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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. fall — to drop
  4. mug — to rob
  5. drill — the tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. field — farmland
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. fall — the season
  10. drill — army training
  11. field — a subject
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. drill — a practice
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — not warm
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. mug — a cup
  18. march — the month
  19. field — for sport
  20. march — music
  21. fall — to drop
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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