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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. shower — to wash
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. game — wild animals
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. track — a song
  10. sharp — clever
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. track — to keep track
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. shower — rain
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. game — a match
  18. track — a path
  19. field — a subject
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. mine — for digging
  24. mine — belonging to me

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