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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. file — a tool
  4. board — a committee
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. cold — an illness
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. season — in sport
  10. file — a line of people
  11. snap — to click
  12. field — farmland
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. board — to get on
  15. file — a document
  16. field — for sport
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. field — a subject
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. cold — not warm

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