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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. ground — crushed
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. spring — the season
  10. cold — an illness
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. perch — the fish
  13. field — farmland
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. spring — of water
  17. ground — a position
  18. spring — a coil
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. chair — a leader
  22. ground — the earth
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. field — a subject

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