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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: present · wind · field · bat · hide · straw · rest · fan

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. rest — what's left
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. rest — a break
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. present — there
  9. wind — moving air
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. present — the time now
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. rest — what's left
  15. field — a subject
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. field — for sport
  18. bat — the animal
  19. present — a gift
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. wind — moving air
  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