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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. field — a subject
  3. game — wild animals
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. mate — to breed
  8. mate — a partner
  9. can — a tin
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — farmland
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. can — to be able to
  15. firm — a company
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. can — a tin
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. pound — a weight
  20. mate — a friend
  21. firm — decided
  22. firm — steady
  23. march — music
  24. field — for sport

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