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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. rest — what's left
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cold — an illness
  6. tube — the underground
  7. rest — what's left
  8. tube — a container
  9. row — a line
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — a trail
  14. field — farmland
  15. rest — a break
  16. cold — not warm
  17. sharp — clever
  18. row — to paddle
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. cap — of ice
  24. cap — a lid

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