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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 120 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: sharp · field · hand · key · kid · march · fall · squash

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. fall — the season
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. field — a subject
  5. key — for a lock
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. fall — to drop
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. squash — the sport
  10. march — the month
  11. march — music
  12. hand — in cards
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. sharp — clever
  15. march — the month
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — child
  18. hand — help
  19. key — in music
  20. squash — to crush
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. fall — to drop
  23. key — the most important part
  24. field — for sport

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