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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. field — for sport
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tear — from crying
  9. game — a match
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. tear — to rip
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — a subject
  21. tear — from crying
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. game — wild animals

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