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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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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: deal · fork · race · stand · cold · field · pop · club

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. pop — soda
  3. fork — in a road
  4. club — for dancing
  5. deal — to handle
  6. race — a contest
  7. stand — to bear
  8. field — for sport
  9. race — the arms race
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. field — a subject
  14. race — humankind
  15. club — for golf
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — farmland
  18. cold — an illness
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. pop — music
  22. club — a group
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pop — to visit

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