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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. field — a subject
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. plane — a tool
  9. bear — the animal
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wind — moving air
  13. kid — to tease
  14. field — farmland
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — child
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. field — for sport
  19. cold — an illness
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. bear — the animal
  22. wind — moving air
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. plane — an aircraft

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