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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. rash — hasty
  4. rock — a stone
  5. bear — the animal
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — money
  9. spell — a short time
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. rash — a series
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. bear — the animal
  14. field — for sport
  15. spell — magic
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. rock — music
  18. field — farmland
  19. stem — to come from
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. spell — letters
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. capital — a city
  24. rash — on the skin

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