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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. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. field — for sport
  5. pass — a permit
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. scale — size or range
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. field — farmland
  12. rash — hasty
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. safe — a strongbox
  15. fork — in a road
  16. ball — a dance
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. cold — an illness
  19. scale — in music
  20. field — a subject
  21. ball — a great time
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. rash — a series
  24. pass — to spend time

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