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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bound — certain
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. row — to paddle
  8. bound — obliged
  9. bound — tied together
  10. row — a line
  11. fine — all right
  12. field — farmland
  13. cold — an illness
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. fine — high quality
  16. cold — not warm
  17. race — humankind
  18. dip — to sink
  19. race — a contest
  20. field — for sport
  21. squash — to crush
  22. race — the arms race
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. fine — a penalty

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