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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — farmland
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — wild animals
  6. mate — to breed
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wound — an injury
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. kid — child
  11. mate — a friend
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bear — the animal
  14. shower — to wash
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. bear — the animal
  18. shower — rain
  19. dip — to sink
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. field — for sport
  23. game — a match
  24. mate — a partner

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