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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. field — for sport
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. bound — certain
  7. spell — magic
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. field — a subject
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. chair — a leader
  12. bound — tied together
  13. spell — letters
  14. field — farmland
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bound — obliged
  17. spell — a short time
  18. row — to paddle
  19. cold — an illness
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. row — a line
  24. racket — for tennis

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