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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. field — a subject
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. chest — of your body
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. chest — a box
  8. fine — all right
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. bore — to tire
  12. fine — high quality
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. field — for sport
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. field — farmland
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. date — the fruit
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. bore — to drill

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com