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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. cold — an illness
  11. degree — an amount
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — from a university
  15. mine — for digging
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. season — of the year
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. season — in sport
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. fork — in a road
  23. pitch — completely
  24. fork — to eat with

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