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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 speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rush — hurry
  5. game — a match
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — farmland
  8. branch — a division
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. land — ground
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. cold — an illness
  17. field — a subject
  18. land — to come down
  19. kid — to tease
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. field — for sport
  22. land — a country
  23. game — wild animals
  24. kid — child

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