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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: last · pit · cold · spring · straw · rest · rush · field

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. spring — of water
  4. field — farmland
  5. rest — a break
  6. cold — an illness
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — finally
  9. rest — what's left
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. rush — hurry
  12. field — a subject
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — the season
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. last — final
  20. rest — what's left
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. pit — in a race

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