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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. cold — not warm
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. deal — to handle
  8. swing — in golf
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. swing — to play on
  11. field — farmland
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. march — the month
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. march — the month
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — a country
  20. march — music
  21. land — to come down
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. land — ground
  24. swing — music

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