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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. fine — high quality
  5. wound — an injury
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. pitch — completely
  8. field — farmland
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. fine — all right
  14. snap — to click
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — an illness
  22. field — a subject
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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