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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. field — a subject
  3. kid — child
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. kid — to tease
  6. board — to get on
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lie — to recline
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bass — low music
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bass — the fish
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. stand — to bear
  17. field — farmland
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. field — for sport
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. board — a committee
  24. lie — an untruth

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