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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. board — a committee
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. branch — a division
  6. wound — an injury
  7. field — for sport
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kid — child
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. ground — the earth
  14. field — a subject
  15. ground — a position
  16. kid — to tease
  17. staff — a stick
  18. staff — employees
  19. field — farmland
  20. ground — crushed
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. board — to get on
  24. staff — employees

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