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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. rule — a law
  4. field — a subject
  5. spell — magic
  6. spell — a short time
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. stock — goods
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — a position
  11. ground — the earth
  12. rule — government
  13. stock — shares
  14. rash — hasty
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. field — for sport
  18. spell — letters
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. field — farmland
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. fork — in a road
  24. rash — a series

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