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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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. rest — what's left
  5. rest — what's left
  6. file — a document
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. lean — thin
  10. file — a line of people
  11. field — farmland
  12. wound — an injury
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. file — a tool
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. wound — an injury
  19. lean — to bend
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pitch — completely
  22. field — a subject
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. field — for sport

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