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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  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. mine — for digging
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. net — after costs
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. cap — a lid
  8. cold — not warm
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — for sport
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. field — farmland
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. cold — an illness
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. net — in sport
  19. cap — a hat
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. cap — of ice
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. net — for catching
  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