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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. pop — to visit
  3. drill — a practice
  4. field — a subject
  5. drill — army training
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. pit — in a race
  8. cap — a hat
  9. snap — to click
  10. capital — a city
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. tear — from crying
  13. pit — a hole
  14. pop — soda
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cap — of ice
  17. pop — music
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. field — farmland
  20. capital — money
  21. tear — to rip
  22. drill — the tool
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cap — a lid

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