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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. field — farmland
  3. capital — a city
  4. charge — electricity
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — for sport
  8. pop — soda
  9. pop — music
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. cold — not warm
  12. charge — in control
  13. race — a contest
  14. pop — to visit
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. dip — to sink
  19. cold — an illness
  20. capital — money
  21. race — the arms race
  22. charge — a price
  23. race — humankind
  24. dip — to dunk

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