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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: charge · cold · kid · swing · field · mark · last · lean

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. field — for sport
  3. lean — thin
  4. lean — to bend
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cold — an illness
  7. swing — to play on
  8. charge — a price
  9. charge — electricity
  10. field — a subject
  11. last — finally
  12. mark — a trace
  13. swing — music
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. swing — in golf
  16. last — final
  17. mark — a grade
  18. cold — not warm
  19. charge — in control
  20. kid — to tease
  21. field — farmland
  22. last — to go on
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. kid — child

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