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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — to drop
  4. charge — electricity
  5. squash — to crush
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. row — to paddle
  8. row — a line
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. field — for sport
  11. key — for a lock
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. key — in music
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. charge — in control
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. field — farmland
  18. cold — not warm
  19. charge — a price
  20. field — a subject
  21. cold — an illness
  22. key — the most important part
  23. squash — the sport
  24. fall — the season

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