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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 120 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. drill — the tool
  3. drill — army training
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. tear — to rip
  7. snap — to click
  8. swing — music
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. drill — a practice
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pit — a hole
  13. field — a subject
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. swing — in golf
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. pit — in a race
  23. field — for sport
  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