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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. race — a contest
  3. can — a tin
  4. race — humankind
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cell — a phone
  7. field — for sport
  8. spring — the season
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mug — a cup
  12. spring — of water
  13. field — farmland
  14. race — the arms race
  15. drill — the tool
  16. cell — in biology
  17. mug — a face
  18. field — a subject
  19. can — to be able to
  20. can — a tin
  21. cold — an illness
  22. spring — a coil
  23. drill — army training
  24. mug — to rob

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