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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  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. field — for sport
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. capital — money
  4. vault — a safe
  5. capital — a city
  6. cold — not warm
  7. lean — thin
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. cold — an illness
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. field — a subject
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. field — farmland
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. fork — in a road
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. date — the fruit
  22. lean — to bend
  23. leaves — lets stay
  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