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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 120 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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. field — a subject
  4. last — finally
  5. ground — the earth
  6. dip — to sink
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. ground — a position
  9. fall — the season
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — to drop
  12. last — to go on
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — for sport
  15. wax — to grow
  16. pit — in a race
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. last — final
  22. cold — not warm
  23. ground — crushed
  24. pit — a hole

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