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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 120 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. race — humankind
  3. field — farmland
  4. march — the month
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. face — to point toward
  7. bore — to tire
  8. can — a tin
  9. march — the month
  10. field — a subject
  11. face — part of the head
  12. cold — not warm
  13. march — music
  14. race — the arms race
  15. field — for sport
  16. can — a tin
  17. can — to be able to
  18. race — a contest
  19. stock — goods
  20. face — to confront
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. stock — shares
  24. bore — to drill

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