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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. pop — soda
  4. current — of water
  5. pop — to visit
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. wake — a trail
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. field — for sport
  16. current — happening now
  17. current — electric
  18. wound — an injury
  19. date — the fruit
  20. pop — music
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. cold — not warm

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