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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. field — farmland
  3. cell — a phone
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. rock — music
  8. fall — to drop
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. rock — a stone
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. field — for sport
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. fall — the season
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. field — a subject
  20. fall — to drop
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cell — in biology

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