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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 116 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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. field — farmland
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. game — wild animals
  6. field — a subject
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. field — for sport
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. ground — the earth
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. lean — thin
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. mine — for digging
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. ground — crushed
  18. lean — to bend
  19. game — a match
  20. cold — not warm
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. pound — a weight
  24. ground — a position

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