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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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. drill — the tool
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. wind — moving air
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cold — not warm
  12. drill — a practice
  13. field — a subject
  14. perch — the fish
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. lean — to bend
  17. wind — moving air
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. lean — thin
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. foot — a measure

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