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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. shower — rain
  5. wound — an injury
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bass — the fish
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. rule — a law
  13. bat — the animal
  14. field — farmland
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bore — to tire
  17. bass — low music
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. field — for sport
  20. rule — government
  21. bore — to drill
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. rule — to rule out

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