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

Word bank: rock · pound · swing · cold · fan · pass · tear · field

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. pass — a permit
  8. pound — a weight
  9. swing — in golf
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. tear — from crying
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. field — farmland
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. swing — music
  17. tear — to rip
  18. rock — a stone
  19. swing — to play on
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. tear — from crying
  22. rock — music
  23. field — a subject
  24. field — for sport

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