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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. track — to keep track
  3. cold — an illness
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. track — a path
  7. cold — not warm
  8. game — wild animals
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — for sport
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. rule — government
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. track — a song
  17. rule — a law
  18. tube — a container
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. tube — the underground
  21. field — farmland
  22. game — a match
  23. ball — a great time
  24. cold — the Cold War

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