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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. field — farmland
  3. mate — a partner
  4. field — for sport
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. cold — an illness
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a ring
  11. band — a music group
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. content — happy
  14. mate — to breed
  15. season — of the year
  16. cold — not warm
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. content — the amount
  20. mate — a friend
  21. season — in sport
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. field — a subject
  24. fork — in a road

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