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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: game · row · straw · chest · kick · current · field · roll

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. game — a match
  3. field — a subject
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. roll — a list
  9. field — for sport
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a line
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. current — of water
  16. roll — a cake
  17. current — electric
  18. game — wild animals
  19. field — farmland
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. current — happening now
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. roll — on a roll

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