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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. field — farmland
  4. scale — in music
  5. rule — a law
  6. field — a subject
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. scale — size or range
  9. cold — an illness
  10. firm — steady
  11. rule — government
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. field — for sport
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. firm — a company
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. firm — decided
  21. hand — help
  22. wound — an injury
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. hand — in cards

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