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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: cold · fall · pit · kick · field · rock · file · saw

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  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. field — farmland
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fall — to drop
  4. saw — the tool
  5. fall — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. file — a document
  8. pit — in a race
  9. saw — the tool
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. kick — in football
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rock — music
  15. file — a line of people
  16. pit — a hole
  17. rock — a stone
  18. field — a subject
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. file — a tool
  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