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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. field — farmland
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. field — for sport
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. field — a subject
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. land — to come down
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — to paddle
  13. land — ground
  14. land — a country
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. row — a line
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. shower — to wash
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. squash — to crush
  22. mine — for digging
  23. shower — rain
  24. mine — an explosive

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