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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 120 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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. field — farmland
  3. scale — size or range
  4. game — wild animals
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. pop — soda
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. field — a subject
  9. scale — in music
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. stock — shares
  12. game — a match
  13. cold — an illness
  14. fall — the season
  15. pop — to visit
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. stock — goods
  18. pop — music
  19. deal — to handle
  20. field — for sport
  21. cold — not warm
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — to drop

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