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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 need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. field — for sport
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. fine — high quality
  7. field — farmland
  8. cold — not warm
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. ball — a dance
  14. mine — for digging
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. drill — army training
  17. field — a subject
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. drill — a practice
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. plane — a tool
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. ball — a great time
  24. fine — all right

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