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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. suit — in cards
  3. pitch — completely
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. land — ground
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — not warm
  8. clip — to cut
  9. field — a subject
  10. tube — a container
  11. hand — help
  12. tube — the underground
  13. clip — a video
  14. land — to come down
  15. field — farmland
  16. clip — for paper
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. cold — an illness
  20. suit — clothes
  21. suit — to fit
  22. land — a country
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. hand — part of the body

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