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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. ground — the earth
  3. land — ground
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. stand — to bear
  6. chest — of your body
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. land — to come down
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. chest — a box
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. bat — the animal
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. ground — crushed
  17. chest — of your body
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — a subject
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. ground — a position
  23. land — a country
  24. field — farmland

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