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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — for sport
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. last — to go on
  5. swing — to play on
  6. season — in sport
  7. swing — in golf
  8. last — final
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. season — of the year
  11. track — a song
  12. track — to keep track
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. field — farmland
  16. track — a path
  17. last — finally
  18. sharp — clever
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — for digging
  23. swing — music
  24. wind — moving air

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