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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mate — a friend
  4. mate — a partner
  5. swing — in golf
  6. key — for a lock
  7. chair — a leader
  8. field — a subject
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. key — the most important part
  13. track — a song
  14. mate — to breed
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. cold — not warm
  17. field — farmland
  18. saw — the tool
  19. saw — the tool
  20. swing — to play on
  21. field — for sport
  22. track — to keep track
  23. key — in music
  24. swing — music

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