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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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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. prune — to trim
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. roll — a list
  5. prune — to trim
  6. field — a subject
  7. land — ground
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. land — to come down
  12. row — a line
  13. land — a country
  14. row — to paddle
  15. field — for sport
  16. snap — to click
  17. roll — a cake
  18. prune — the fruit

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