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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. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  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. mouse — the animal
  2. wind — moving air
  3. field — a subject
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. land — to come down
  6. field — farmland
  7. firm — decided
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. game — a match
  11. wind — moving air
  12. firm — steady
  13. cold — an illness
  14. game — wild animals
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. cold — not warm
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. firm — a company
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. mouse — for a computer
  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