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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. pass — a permit
  4. file — a line of people
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cold — an illness
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. field — a subject
  11. spell — letters
  12. file — a document
  13. spell — a short time
  14. file — a tool
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — for sport
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. spell — magic
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. pass — to succeed
  24. cell — in biology

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