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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 116 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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. rock — music
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. field — farmland
  5. wake — a trail
  6. wound — an injury
  7. hand — help
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. wound — an injury
  11. field — a subject
  12. rock — a stone
  13. stem — to come from
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. sharp — clever
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. field — for sport
  22. hand — in cards
  23. mine — for digging
  24. sharp — exactly

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