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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  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. rush — hurry
  2. fall — the season
  3. land — to come down
  4. fall — to drop
  5. field — for sport
  6. squash — the sport
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. rock — music
  9. file — a tool
  10. land — a country
  11. file — a document
  12. fall — to drop
  13. file — a line of people
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. rock — a stone
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. field — farmland
  20. squash — to crush
  21. land — ground
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. rock — to move gently
  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