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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 a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. field — for sport
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. mate — a friend
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. chair — a leader
  8. field — farmland
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. rule — a law
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mate — to breed
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. branch — a division
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. spring — the season
  18. field — a subject
  19. rule — government
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spring — of water
  22. mate — a partner
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. branch — of a bank

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