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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. hand — help
  5. spell — letters
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. roll — a cake
  8. spell — magic
  9. bass — low music
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. roll — a list
  14. bass — the fish
  15. spell — a short time
  16. field — farmland
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — for sport
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. field — a subject

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