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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 120 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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. craft — a skill
  3. swing — in golf
  4. tube — a container
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. swing — to play on
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. scale — in music
  11. shower — rain
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. tube — the underground
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. field — a subject
  16. craft — boats
  17. swing — music
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. vault — a safe
  20. field — farmland
  21. scale — size or range
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cold — the Cold War

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