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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. last — finally
  6. last — to go on
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. court — of law
  9. wind — moving air
  10. stem — to come from
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — for sport
  14. wind — moving air
  15. field — a subject
  16. scale — size or range
  17. deal — to handle
  18. scale — in music
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — for sport
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. dip — to sink

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