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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: cold · spring · roll · fan · firm · field · race · stock

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. firm — decided
  3. firm — a company
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. cold — an illness
  6. spring — a coil
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. race — humankind
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. field — for sport
  11. roll — a list
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. firm — steady
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — the arms race
  19. roll — a cake
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. field — farmland
  22. stock — shares
  23. stock — goods
  24. cold — not warm

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