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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. cold — an illness
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. pass — a permit
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. field — for sport
  10. fall — the season
  11. degree — an amount
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — from a university
  16. kid — to tease
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. kid — child
  20. degree — temperature
  21. field — a subject
  22. staff — employees
  23. staff — employees
  24. staff — a stick

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