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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 120 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 mare is ________________ in color.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. swing — to play on
  4. swing — music
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. field — farmland
  7. swing — in golf
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. pitch — completely
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. stock — shares
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. field — for sport
  16. plane — a tool
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. kick — in football
  19. stock — goods
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. field — a subject
  24. plane — in geometry

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