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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. mate — a friend
  5. mate — a partner
  6. field — farmland
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. prune — to trim
  10. key — the most important part
  11. rest — what's left
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. dip — to sink
  15. cold — an illness
  16. field — for sport
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rest — a break
  19. bat — the animal
  20. mate — to breed
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. key — in music
  23. rest — what's left
  24. key — for a lock

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