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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — a subject
  6. kick — in football
  7. cold — an illness
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. field — farmland
  10. rash — a series
  11. field — for sport
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. snap — to click
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. rash — hasty

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