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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 people resisted their cruel ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — a monarch
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. field — a subject
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. fall — the season
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. fall — to drop
  11. date — the fruit
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mine — for digging
  18. field — farmland
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. hand — in cards
  21. cold — not warm
  22. hand — help
  23. fall — to drop
  24. field — for sport

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