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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. club — for dancing
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. field — a subject
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. club — a group
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. prune — to trim
  12. field — for sport
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. scale — in music
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. field — farmland
  19. club — for golf
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. cold — an illness
  23. prune — to trim
  24. scale — size or range

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