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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. field — for sport
  4. last — final
  5. last — finally
  6. track — to keep track
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. row — a line
  9. track — a path
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — farmland
  12. row — to paddle
  13. bulb — for light
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. mine — for digging
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. field — a subject
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. last — to go on
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bulb — for light
  23. track — a song
  24. mine — belonging to me

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