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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. band — a music group
  3. spring — the season
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. mark — a grade
  7. mark — a trace
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. board — a committee
  14. board — to get on
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cold — an illness
  19. band — a ring
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. field — farmland
  22. spring — of water
  23. cold — not warm
  24. rush — a thrill

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