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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. pop — music
  3. last — final
  4. last — to go on
  5. key — the most important part
  6. swing — in golf
  7. swing — music
  8. pop — to visit
  9. key — in music
  10. cue — a hint
  11. last — finally
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. cue — for pool
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cue — a signal
  18. field — farmland
  19. key — for a lock
  20. field — a subject
  21. race — humankind
  22. swing — to play on
  23. row — to paddle
  24. pop — soda

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