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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. cold — an illness
  4. current — of water
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — to breed
  7. tube — a container
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. tube — the underground
  11. field — farmland
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. cold — not warm
  14. deal — to handle
  15. field — a subject
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. current — electric
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. mate — a friend
  22. current — happening now
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. deal — a big deal

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