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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. field — for sport
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. capital — a city
  7. current — electric
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. cold — an illness
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. field — farmland
  13. rush — hurry
  14. current — of water
  15. bear — the animal
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. current — happening now
  19. capital — money
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. field — a subject
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bear — the animal
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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