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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. field — farmland
  4. perch — the fish
  5. field — for sport
  6. track — a path
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kick — in football
  15. field — a subject
  16. root — the cause
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. cold — not warm
  19. root — of a word
  20. track — a song
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. plane — a tool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. root — of a plant

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