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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 120 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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spell — a short time
  4. field — farmland
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. mug — a face
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. scale — in music
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. spell — magic
  13. scale — size or range
  14. mug — a cup
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. board — a committee
  18. field — for sport
  19. spell — letters
  20. field — a subject
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. mug — to rob
  23. board — to get on
  24. deal — to handle

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