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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. kid — child
  3. roll — a list
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. face — part of the head
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. chair — a leader
  9. face — to confront
  10. swing — to play on
  11. swing — music
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. field — farmland
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. kid — to tease
  16. swing — in golf
  17. field — a subject
  18. face — to point toward
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. field — for sport
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cold — not warm
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. cold — an illness

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