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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. prune — to trim
  4. field — farmland
  5. race — the arms race
  6. wind — moving air
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. field — for sport
  11. cap — of ice
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. wind — moving air
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. ball — a great time
  17. prune — to trim
  18. race — a contest
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. race — humankind
  21. cap — a hat
  22. cap — a lid
  23. kid — child
  24. field — a subject

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