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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. race — a contest
  3. field — a subject
  4. game — wild animals
  5. pound — a weight
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. shower — to wash
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. season — in sport
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. club — for golf
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. season — of the year
  16. race — humankind
  17. club — for dancing
  18. cold — an illness
  19. shower — rain
  20. game — a match
  21. race — the arms race
  22. club — a group
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. field — for sport

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