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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. track — a path
  3. field — a subject
  4. fall — to drop
  5. mug — a face
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — the season
  8. field — for sport
  9. cold — an illness
  10. track — a song
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. cold — not warm
  13. mug — to rob
  14. row — a line
  15. root — the cause
  16. field — farmland
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. row — to paddle
  19. root — of a plant
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. track — to keep track
  23. root — of a word
  24. branch — a division

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