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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: safe · last · ruler · cold · kick · wound · game · field

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. last — final
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wound — an injury
  7. last — finally
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. game — a match
  13. last — to go on
  14. field — farmland
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. wound — an injury
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — a subject
  20. kick — in football
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. game — wild animals
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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