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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. track — to keep track
  3. track — a song
  4. saw — the tool
  5. field — farmland
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. stock — goods
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. scale — size or range
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. track — a path
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — not warm
  15. field — a subject
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. stock — shares
  18. cold — an illness
  19. saw — the tool
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. scale — in music
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cold — the Cold War

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