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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. ball — a dance
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cap — a hat
  6. branch — a division
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. field — a subject
  10. cap — a lid
  11. ball — a great time
  12. spring — the season
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. spring — a coil
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cap — of ice
  20. spring — of water
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — farmland

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