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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. present — the time now
  4. spring — the season
  5. field — a subject
  6. root — of a word
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. present — there
  9. root — of a plant
  10. spring — a coil
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. field — farmland
  13. bat — the animal
  14. root — the cause
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. present — a gift
  17. spring — of water
  18. field — for sport

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