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

Word bank: pitcher · straw · lie · race · saw · cell · field · wind

  1. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. race — the arms race
  3. field — farmland
  4. wind — moving air
  5. field — for sport
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. race — humankind
  8. lie — to recline
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cell — a phone
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. race — a contest
  16. field — a subject
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. wind — moving air
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. cell — in biology
  22. saw — the tool
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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