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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 ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. swing — music
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. field — a subject
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. swing — to play on
  8. sharp — clever
  9. last — finally
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. last — final
  12. field — farmland
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. swing — in golf
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. last — to go on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. rush — hurry
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. field — for sport
  24. stem — a stem cell

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