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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. 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. field — for sport
  2. chest — of your body
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. mate — a friend
  6. cold — an illness
  7. mate — to breed
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. mate — a partner
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. kick — in football
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. stock — goods
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. stock — shares
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. field — farmland
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. 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