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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. field — a subject
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. clip — for paper
  5. field — for sport
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cap — a lid
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cap — a hat
  11. cold — not warm
  12. season — in sport
  13. clip — a video
  14. land — a country
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. land — to come down
  17. cap — of ice
  18. mine — for digging
  19. field — farmland
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. land — ground
  22. season — of the year
  23. perch — the fish
  24. perch — for a bird

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