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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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Word bank
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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: game · mark · cold · roll · rest · fan · field · rock

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. roll — a cake
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. rest — what's left
  6. mark — a grade
  7. game — wild animals
  8. rock — music
  9. rest — what's left
  10. roll — a list
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. rest — a break
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. field — a subject
  16. mark — a trace
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. field — farmland
  20. rock — a stone
  21. game — a match
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — not warm

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