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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 116 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 am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — a sudden rise
  2. rash — a series
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. field — farmland
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. face — to confront
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. spring — a coil
  11. field — a subject
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. face — to point toward
  14. spring — the season
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rash — hasty
  18. spring — of water
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. bat — the animal
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. cold — not warm
  24. face — part of the head

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