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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 116 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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fork — in a road
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — wild animals
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. field — farmland
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. game — a match
  13. fall — to drop
  14. root — the cause
  15. root — of a plant
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. tube — a container
  18. tube — the underground
  19. root — of a word
  20. fall — the season
  21. fall — to drop
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. field — a subject

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