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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. mark — a grade
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. mark — a trace
  7. kid — child
  8. field — for sport
  9. prune — to trim
  10. field — farmland
  11. prune — to trim
  12. march — music
  13. march — the month
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kid — to tease
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cold — an illness
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. field — a subject
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — the month

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