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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: ground · field · cold · bay · kid · bore · toast · season

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. ground — a position
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. season — in sport
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bore — to tire
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — for sport
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. kid — child
  16. ground — the earth
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. bore — to drill
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. season — of the year
  21. kid — to tease
  22. ground — crushed
  23. toast — bread
  24. field — a subject

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