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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: wound · mark · cell · field · deal · squash · current · hand

  1. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. field — farmland
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. hand — in cards
  5. squash — the sport
  6. mark — a trace
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. field — for sport
  9. cell — in biology
  10. current — electric
  11. hand — help
  12. current — happening now
  13. cell — a phone
  14. squash — to crush
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. field — a subject
  18. wound — an injury
  19. current — of water
  20. wound — an injury
  21. mark — a grade
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. cell — in a prison

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