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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 train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. file — a tool
  3. shower — to wash
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — a subject
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. capital — a city
  10. date — the fruit
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. capital — money
  14. field — for sport
  15. stand — to bear
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. file — a document
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. shower — rain
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. file — a line of people
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. calf — a young animal

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