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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 120 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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rash — a series
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. field — a subject
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. field — farmland
  9. chair — a leader
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. rash — hasty
  12. file — a document
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — not warm
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. file — a line of people
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. file — a tool
  24. chair — a professorship

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