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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 124 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 party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. bat — the animal
  3. track — a song
  4. field — a subject
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. file — a tool
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. file — a line of people
  9. cold — an illness
  10. key — for a lock
  11. key — the most important part
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. track — a path
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. cold — not warm
  19. rash — hasty
  20. file — a document
  21. track — to keep track
  22. key — in music
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — farmland

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