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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.

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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — crushed
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. rash — hasty
  5. field — farmland
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. scale — in music
  8. cold — not warm
  9. scale — size or range
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. rash — a series
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. ground — a position
  15. ground — the earth
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — a subject

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