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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  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. can — to be able to
  2. cell — a phone
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. wind — moving air
  5. game — a match
  6. rest — a break
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. wind — moving air
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — what's left
  15. drill — army training
  16. can — a tin
  17. drill — the tool
  18. cell — in biology
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. can — a tin
  21. foot — a measure
  22. field — a subject
  23. drill — a practice
  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