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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: hide · track · club · lie · chair · field · lash · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  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. cold — the Cold War
  2. field — farmland
  3. club — for golf
  4. track — a path
  5. track — to keep track
  6. track — a song
  7. field — a subject
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. club — for dancing
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. cold — an illness
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. chair — a leader
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. cold — not warm
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. club — a group
  19. lie — to recline
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. hide — to keep secret
  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