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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 124 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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. object — an aim
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. field — farmland
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. field — for sport
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. file — a document
  11. object — a thing
  12. file — a tool
  13. fall — the season
  14. file — a line of people
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pitch — completely
  18. object — to protest

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