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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. present — the time now
  3. field — farmland
  4. land — to come down
  5. ball — a dance
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. field — a subject
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. land — ground
  13. present — a gift
  14. present — there
  15. wax — to grow
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. sharp — clever
  19. rush — hurry
  20. ball — a great time
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. land — a country
  23. sharp — exactly
  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