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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — a subject
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. roll — a list
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. rush — hurry
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. clip — for paper
  11. capital — money
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. season — in sport
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. field — for sport
  20. capital — a city
  21. season — of the year
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — hasty
  24. roll — a cake

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