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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 116 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. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. field — for sport
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. field — farmland
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. clip — for paper
  10. can — to be able to
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. rule — a law
  14. field — a subject
  15. cold — not warm
  16. clip — to cut
  17. ball — a great time
  18. can — a tin
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. ball — a dance
  21. pitch — completely
  22. rule — government
  23. clip — a video
  24. fork — in a road

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