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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. spring — of water
  3. drill — a practice
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — farmland
  6. wake — a trail
  7. spring — a coil
  8. chest — a box
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. spring — the season
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bulb — for light
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. bulb — for light
  18. chest — of your body

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