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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 water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. scale — in music
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. chip — for betting
  6. scale — size or range
  7. field — a subject
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chip — to eat
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. lean — to bend
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — for sport
  18. bat — the animal
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. lean — thin
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — hasty
  24. bat — for baseball

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