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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 116 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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. field — for sport
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. field — farmland
  5. stock — goods
  6. net — in sport
  7. stock — shares
  8. board — to get on
  9. cold — not warm
  10. season — in sport
  11. firm — decided
  12. season — of the year
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bass — low music
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. net — for catching
  18. net — after costs
  19. firm — steady
  20. field — a subject
  21. firm — a company
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. board — a committee

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