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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. field — for sport
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — a tin
  7. spring — a coil
  8. bore — to tire
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. field — farmland
  11. court — of law
  12. court — for sport
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. spring — the season
  15. bore — to drill
  16. can — to be able to
  17. court — of a king
  18. field — a subject

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