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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 coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. game — wild animals
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. field — a subject
  9. game — a match
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cold — an illness
  12. swing — music
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. fall — to drop
  15. field — farmland
  16. swing — to play on
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. field — for sport
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. fall — the season

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