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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. pitch — completely
  3. chest — a box
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. cold — an illness
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. tube — a container
  12. chest — of your body
  13. tube — the underground
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. jam — a tight spot
  19. chest — of your body
  20. field — a subject
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. wake — a trail
  23. field — for sport
  24. cold — not warm

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