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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. race — humankind
  4. field — a subject
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. field — for sport
  7. cold — not warm
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. root — the cause
  10. root — of a word
  11. degree — from a university
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — temperature
  14. race — a contest
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. cold — an illness
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cell — in biology
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. field — farmland
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. root — of a plant
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. race — the arms race

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