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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. pitch — completely
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. rest — what's left
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. field — for sport
  7. cold — an illness
  8. field — farmland
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. rest — a break
  12. rest — what's left
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. land — a country
  16. stem — to come from
  17. land — ground
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. field — a subject
  24. land — to come down

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