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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. field — a subject
  3. mark — a trace
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. present — there
  7. field — farmland
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. mark — a grade
  10. field — for sport
  11. stem — to come from
  12. present — a gift
  13. bank — of a river
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. bank — for money
  17. bat — the animal
  18. present — the time now
  19. file — a line of people
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. file — a tool
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. bank — for money
  24. file — a document

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