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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — a subject
  4. spring — a coil
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. spring — the season
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fine — high quality
  10. deal — to handle
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cold — an illness
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. ball — a dance
  15. spring — of water
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. ball — a great time
  18. fine — all right
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. field — farmland
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cold — the Cold War

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