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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. bass — the fish
  5. field — farmland
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. race — humankind
  8. bass — low music
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. cold — an illness
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. rest — a break
  14. shower — rain
  15. shower — to wash
  16. rest — what's left
  17. field — a subject
  18. rest — what's left
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. race — a contest
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. race — the arms race
  23. field — for sport
  24. bowl — a dish

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