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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: pop · chest · craft · mine · bat · fall · field · lash

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. chest — of your body
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. chest — a box
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. pop — to visit
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. craft — boats
  16. fall — to drop
  17. field — farmland
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. craft — a skill
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. field — for sport
  23. bat — the animal
  24. fall — the season

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