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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. date — the fruit
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. shower — rain
  6. swing — music
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. swing — to play on
  10. cold — not warm
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. ball — a great time
  15. fork — in a road
  16. net — for catching
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. swing — in golf
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. shower — to wash
  21. ball — a dance
  22. net — after costs
  23. net — in sport
  24. fork — a garden tool

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