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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. field — for sport
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. lie — to recline
  7. sharp — clever
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. season — in sport
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. hand — in cards
  14. field — a subject
  15. season — of the year
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. wind — moving air
  18. field — farmland
  19. cold — not warm
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. cold — an illness
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. hand — help

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