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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 room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. field — farmland
  3. shower — rain
  4. field — for sport
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. field — a subject
  7. roll — a cake
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bear — the animal
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. cold — an illness
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a line
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. shower — to wash
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. cold — not warm
  21. roll — a list
  22. bear — the animal
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitch — a sports field

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