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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. field — a subject
  8. game — wild animals
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chest — a box
  11. game — a match
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — farmland
  18. stock — goods
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. stock — shares
  24. kick — in football

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