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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. craft — boats
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bass — low music
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. band — a ring
  11. field — farmland
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. band — a music group
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wound — an injury
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bass — the fish
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. field — a subject
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. craft — a skill

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