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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. cold — an illness
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. season — in sport
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. degree — temperature
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — an amount
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. season — of the year
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — farmland
  16. degree — from a university
  17. plane — a tool
  18. ground — the earth
  19. ground — a position
  20. wind — moving air
  21. field — a subject
  22. wind — moving air
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. ground — crushed

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