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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. field — a subject
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. content — the amount
  9. race — a contest
  10. chair — a leader
  11. field — farmland
  12. tube — a container
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. race — the arms race
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. scale — in music
  19. season — of the year
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. tube — the underground
  23. race — humankind
  24. season — in sport

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