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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  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. fall — to drop
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. field — farmland
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. field — for sport
  6. sharp — clever
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. capital — a city
  10. fall — to drop
  11. pitch — completely
  12. fall — the season
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cold — not warm
  15. capital — money
  16. cold — an illness
  17. sharp — exactly
  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