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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. field — farmland
  5. file — a document
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. pound — a weight
  12. cold — not warm
  13. dip — to sink
  14. file — a line of people
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. press — to push
  17. deal — to handle
  18. field — a subject
  19. file — a tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. cold — an illness
  23. press — newspapers
  24. press — a publisher

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