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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. chair — a leader
  3. club — for dancing
  4. mark — a trace
  5. rest — a break
  6. spring — the season
  7. field — for sport
  8. spring — a coil
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. drill — the tool
  11. spring — of water
  12. rest — what's left
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. club — a group
  15. cold — an illness
  16. drill — army training
  17. field — farmland
  18. drill — a practice
  19. club — for golf
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rest — what's left
  24. mark — a grade

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