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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. cold — not warm
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — farmland
  6. degree — from a university
  7. ground — crushed
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. degree — an amount
  12. ground — the earth
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. cold — an illness
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. squash — to crush
  17. field — a subject
  18. bear — the animal
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. squash — the sport
  21. field — for sport
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bear — the animal
  24. ground — a position

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