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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  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. season — of the year
  2. staff — employees
  3. season — in sport
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. stock — shares
  6. field — a subject
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. stock — goods
  10. staff — a stick
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. club — for dancing
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. field — farmland
  16. club — for golf
  17. fork — in a road
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. cold — an illness
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. staff — employees
  23. club — a group
  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