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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. field — farmland
  6. root — of a word
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. field — for sport
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. land — ground
  13. root — the cause
  14. wake — a trail
  15. land — a country
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — a subject
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. pass — a permit
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. land — to come down
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. root — of a plant

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