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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chest — a box
  7. lean — to bend
  8. field — a subject
  9. cold — not warm
  10. court — of a king
  11. field — for sport
  12. rash — a series
  13. sharp — clever
  14. court — of law
  15. court — for sport
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. field — farmland
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. snap — to click
  22. lean — thin
  23. chest — of your body
  24. rash — on the skin

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