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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 116 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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. staff — employees
  3. field — farmland
  4. kid — to tease
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. hand — in cards
  8. field — for sport
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. staff — a stick
  12. staff — employees
  13. last — finally
  14. squash — to crush
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. kid — child
  17. cap — a hat
  18. squash — the sport
  19. hand — help
  20. last — to go on
  21. cap — a lid
  22. field — a subject
  23. stem — to come from
  24. cap — of ice

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