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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. charge — in control
  3. squash — the sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. charge — electricity
  6. shower — rain
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. wind — moving air
  9. root — of a word
  10. shower — to wash
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. root — the cause
  13. root — of a plant
  14. field — for sport
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. charge — a price
  17. wind — moving air
  18. squash — to crush

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