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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 120 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: cabinet · kid · lean · pop · field · racket · file · cap

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. field — a subject
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. pop — to visit
  5. kid — child
  6. lean — thin
  7. pop — soda
  8. field — for sport
  9. file — a line of people
  10. kid — to tease
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. pop — music
  13. file — a tool
  14. cap — a hat
  15. field — farmland
  16. lean — to bend
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. cap — of ice
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. cap — a lid
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. file — a document

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