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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. chest — a box
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. capital — a city
  7. fine — all right
  8. field — for sport
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fine — high quality
  11. capital — money
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. pound — a weight
  14. deal — to handle
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bulb — for light
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cold — an illness
  23. chest — of your body
  24. field — farmland

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