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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. sharp — clever
  4. field — for sport
  5. race — a contest
  6. prune — to trim
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. race — the arms race
  11. field — farmland
  12. drill — army training
  13. drill — the tool
  14. roll — a list
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. race — humankind
  17. roll — a cake
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cold — an illness
  20. field — a subject
  21. drill — a practice
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. deal — to handle

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