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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 120 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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  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. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. ball — a great time
  4. field — farmland
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — wild animals
  9. scale — in music
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. field — for sport
  12. cold — not warm
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. cold — an illness
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. game — a match
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. wake — a trail
  22. ball — a dance
  23. scale — size or range
  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