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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: snap · staff · last · march · sharp · field · hand · straw

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. snap — to click
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. staff — employees
  6. last — final
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — in cards
  11. march — the month
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. field — a subject
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. field — for sport
  16. sharp — clever
  17. last — to go on
  18. march — the month
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. staff — a stick
  21. last — finally
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. march — music
  24. staff — employees

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