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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. fine — high quality
  3. squash — to crush
  4. prune — to trim
  5. field — a subject
  6. net — for catching
  7. field — farmland
  8. cold — not warm
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. net — after costs
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. season — of the year
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. dip — to sink
  16. field — for sport
  17. fine — all right
  18. cold — an illness
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. squash — the sport
  24. season — in sport

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