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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  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. object — to protest
  2. club — for dancing
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. club — for golf
  5. field — for sport
  6. last — final
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. field — a subject
  9. row — a line
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. object — an aim
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. field — farmland
  14. perch — the fish
  15. cold — an illness
  16. last — finally
  17. row — to paddle
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. object — a thing
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. club — a group
  22. cold — not warm
  23. last — to go on
  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