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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. field — farmland
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. squash — to crush
  7. drill — a practice
  8. chair — a leader
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. field — for sport
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. drill — army training
  16. squash — the sport
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. plane — a tool
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. drill — the tool
  23. field — a subject
  24. calf — of the leg

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