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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 116 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.

Make a worksheet

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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. field — a subject
  3. cold — not warm
  4. field — farmland
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. rule — a law
  7. mine — for digging
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. file — a line of people
  11. cold — an illness
  12. rule — government
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. field — for sport
  18. file — a document

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