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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. cap — of ice
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. rest — what's left
  5. mine — for digging
  6. stock — goods
  7. rest — a break
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. cap — a hat
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — shares
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. kid — child
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. field — a subject
  17. rest — what's left
  18. pitch — completely
  19. kid — to tease
  20. rash — hasty
  21. cap — a lid
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. field — for sport
  24. rash — a series

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