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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: straw · rest · cell · kid · game · field · pop · racket

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. rest — a break
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. pop — to visit
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. game — a match
  10. field — a subject
  11. rest — what's left
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. kid — child
  14. kid — to tease
  15. game — wild animals
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. pop — music
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. pop — soda
  22. cell — in biology
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. rest — what's left

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