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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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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: field · shower · stem · drill · leaves · nail · bat · straw

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. drill — army training
  5. shower — to wash
  6. field — for sport
  7. stem — to come from
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. drill — the tool
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. shower — rain
  21. field — a subject
  22. drill — a practice
  23. stem — of a plant
  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