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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. cap — a hat
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. game — a match
  7. cap — a lid
  8. field — a subject
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. field — farmland
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. field — for sport
  13. rock — music
  14. hand — in cards
  15. rock — a stone
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cap — of ice
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. row — to paddle
  21. hand — help
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. pass — a permit
  24. row — a quarrel

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