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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. rush — hurry
  3. current — of water
  4. kid — child
  5. field — a subject
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. current — electric
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. rash — hasty
  11. pitch — completely
  12. rash — a series
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. cold — not warm
  19. current — happening now
  20. deal — to handle
  21. kid — to tease
  22. field — for sport
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitch — a sports field

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