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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. mate — a partner
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. mate — to breed
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. current — happening now
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. ball — a dance
  10. current — of water
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. current — electric
  13. field — for sport
  14. mate — a friend
  15. march — music
  16. ball — a great time
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — not warm
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — a subject
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. march — the month

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