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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. spell — magic
  4. field — farmland
  5. saw — the tool
  6. root — of a plant
  7. root — the cause
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. root — of a word
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — for sport
  12. field — a subject
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fine — all right
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. spell — a short time
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fine — high quality
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. date — the fruit
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spell — letters

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