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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. net — for catching
  3. field — farmland
  4. clip — for paper
  5. net — after costs
  6. spring — a coil
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. toast — bread
  9. rock — music
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. field — a subject
  12. root — of a plant
  13. last — final
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. last — to go on
  16. spring — the season
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — a video
  19. root — the cause
  20. last — finally
  21. rock — a stone
  22. field — for sport
  23. net — in sport
  24. root — of a word

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