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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. field — a subject
  4. plane — a tool
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. cold — not warm
  7. hand — in cards
  8. can — to be able to
  9. scale — size or range
  10. can — a tin
  11. file — a document
  12. can — a tin
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. scale — in music
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. hand — help
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. field — for sport
  21. file — a line of people
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. file — a tool

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