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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. field — for sport
  5. rule — government
  6. dip — to sink
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. rule — a law
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. field — a subject
  19. cell — a phone
  20. pound — a weight
  21. wind — moving air
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. cell — in biology
  24. wind — to turn a key

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