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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. fine — all right
  4. kid — child
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. field — a subject
  8. bark — to shout
  9. swing — music
  10. fall — the season
  11. kid — to tease
  12. rush — hurry
  13. race — the arms race
  14. field — farmland
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. fine — high quality
  21. swing — in golf
  22. field — for sport
  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