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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  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 — to cool the air
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. field — farmland
  6. pitch — completely
  7. wound — an injury
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. field — for sport
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. court — for sport
  19. court — of a king
  20. perch — the fish
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. court — of law
  23. perch — for a bird
  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