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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. spell — a short time
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. drill — a practice
  8. field — a subject
  9. rash — hasty
  10. root — the cause
  11. shower — to wash
  12. rash — a series
  13. spell — magic
  14. drill — army training
  15. drill — the tool
  16. root — of a plant
  17. race — humankind
  18. root — of a word
  19. spell — letters
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — the arms race
  23. field — farmland
  24. shower — rain

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