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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. ground — a position
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — in music
  6. rash — hasty
  7. mate — a partner
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — for sport
  15. scale — size or range
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. mate — a friend
  20. ground — crushed
  21. mate — to breed
  22. rash — a series
  23. ground — the earth
  24. cold — an illness

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