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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. field — a subject
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bear — the animal
  5. chair — a leader
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. last — to go on
  10. last — finally
  11. rush — hurry
  12. last — final
  13. bear — the animal
  14. field — for sport
  15. march — music
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. march — the month
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. march — the month
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. field — farmland
  24. chair — to sit on

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