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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. track — to keep track
  3. field — farmland
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — a match
  8. last — final
  9. cap — a lid
  10. cap — a hat
  11. last — to go on
  12. track — a song
  13. track — a path
  14. last — finally
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. hand — in cards
  18. game — wild animals

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