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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. field — for sport
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. saw — the tool
  7. chest — a box
  8. saw — the tool
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. sharp — clever
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — farmland
  17. swing — music
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cold — an illness
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. swing — to play on
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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