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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. field — farmland
  3. spring — the season
  4. stock — goods
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. spring — a coil
  7. stock — shares
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. field — for sport
  12. spring — of water
  13. field — a subject
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. land — a country
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. land — to come down
  18. bark — to shout

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