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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. mark — a grade
  3. game — a match
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — the animal
  6. field — a subject
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. mark — a trace
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. field — for sport
  15. game — wild animals
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. fork — in a road
  23. field — farmland
  24. cold — the Cold War

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