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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 116 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: season · cold · field · fine · wound · kid · shower · drill

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. drill — a practice
  3. shower — rain
  4. wound — an injury
  5. season — in sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. field — a subject
  12. kid — child
  13. field — for sport
  14. drill — army training
  15. drill — the tool
  16. season — of the year
  17. fine — all right
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. fine — high quality
  21. wound — an injury
  22. kid — to tease
  23. shower — to wash
  24. season — to add flavour

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