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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. field — for sport
  3. cold — not warm
  4. season — of the year
  5. bore — to drill
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. club — for dancing
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bore — to tire
  13. club — for golf
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. season — in sport
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — a subject
  19. face — to point toward
  20. face — to confront
  21. face — part of the head
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. season — to add flavour

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