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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. field — a subject
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. field — farmland
  7. fork — in a road
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. game — a match
  16. sharp — clever
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. field — for sport
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. cold — not warm
  24. game — wild animals

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