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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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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: foot · ground · hand · rush · mouse · cell · cold · field

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cell — in biology
  4. field — farmland
  5. ground — a position
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. ground — crushed
  12. cold — not warm
  13. field — for sport
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. ground — the earth
  17. hand — help
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. foot — a measure
  20. cell — a phone
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. rush — hurry
  24. foot — part of the body

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