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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. last — to go on
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. last — final
  7. cold — not warm
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. court — of a king
  12. last — finally
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. fork — in a road
  16. pitch — completely
  17. game — wild animals
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. ground — the earth
  20. court — for sport
  21. court — of law
  22. cold — an illness
  23. game — a match
  24. ground — crushed

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