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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. field — for sport
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. field — a subject
  7. land — a country
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. lie — to recline
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — ground
  12. cold — an illness
  13. tear — from crying
  14. perch — the fish
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. cold — not warm
  17. fall — to drop
  18. tear — from crying
  19. fall — to drop
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. fall — the season
  22. field — farmland
  23. tear — to rip
  24. season — of the year

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