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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 120 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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. game — a match
  3. game — wild animals
  4. stock — shares
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. field — for sport
  9. ground — the earth
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. wake — a trail
  13. ground — crushed
  14. current — electric
  15. field — farmland
  16. stock — goods
  17. lie — to recline
  18. last — final
  19. current — of water
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. current — happening now
  22. last — to go on
  23. field — a subject
  24. last — finally

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