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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I can't ________________ this cold.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. cap — a hat
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. cap — a lid
  5. lie — to recline
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. tube — the underground
  8. mine — for digging
  9. stand — to bear
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. field — farmland
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cap — of ice
  17. tube — a container
  18. field — a subject
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. stand — for spectators

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