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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. last — final
  3. field — a subject
  4. wind — moving air
  5. field — farmland
  6. wake — a trail
  7. cap — a lid
  8. cap — of ice
  9. wound — an injury
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. cap — a hat
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. rash — hasty
  16. last — finally
  17. field — for sport
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. last — to go on
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. rash — a series
  24. jam — a tight spot

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