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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. file — a document
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. pound — a weight
  5. field — for sport
  6. spring — of water
  7. wound — an injury
  8. spring — the season
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. field — a subject
  12. net — after costs
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. file — a line of people
  15. net — in sport
  16. file — a tool
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — to trim
  19. spring — a coil
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. net — for catching

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