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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: plane · root · rash · field · capital · cold · fan · kid

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. root — of a word
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. capital — a city
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. plane — a tool
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. field — for sport
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. kid — child
  14. root — the cause
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. root — of a plant
  22. capital — money
  23. field — farmland
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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