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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. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. field — farmland
  3. land — ground
  4. stock — shares
  5. spring — of water
  6. field — for sport
  7. ground — a position
  8. cell — in biology
  9. charge — electricity
  10. cell — a phone
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. charge — in control
  13. spring — a coil
  14. ground — the earth
  15. land — to come down
  16. ground — crushed
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. field — a subject
  19. last — to go on
  20. land — a country
  21. spring — the season
  22. last — final
  23. stock — goods
  24. last — finally

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