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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cell — a phone
  3. field — for sport
  4. cell — in biology
  5. field — a subject
  6. court — for sport
  7. cap — of ice
  8. chest — of your body
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — of law
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. field — farmland
  16. cap — a hat
  17. cap — a lid
  18. chest — a box
  19. spring — a coil
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. spring — the season
  24. spring — of water

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