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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  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 — for sport
  2. wind — moving air
  3. kid — child
  4. field — a subject
  5. cold — not warm
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to click
  10. vault — a safe
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. wind — moving air
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. squash — to crush
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. kid — to tease
  22. wake — a trail
  23. squash — the sport
  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