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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. season — in sport
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. hand — in cards
  6. ball — a great time
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ball — a dance
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. roll — a list
  12. cold — not warm
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — for sport
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. hand — help
  17. season — of the year
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. bat — the animal
  21. field — farmland
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. roll — on a roll

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