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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. cold — not warm
  5. craft — boats
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. game — wild animals
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. craft — a skill
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. field — for sport
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. march — the month
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. pass — a permit
  21. game — a match
  22. field — a subject
  23. bat — the animal
  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