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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  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 — the Cold War
  2. spring — the season
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — a subject
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. wind — moving air
  10. stand — to bear
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. spring — of water
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. spring — a coil
  16. rush — hurry
  17. scale — in music
  18. field — for sport
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. wind — moving air
  22. fork — in a road
  23. fork — to eat with
  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