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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. field — for sport
  3. race — the arms race
  4. race — humankind
  5. spring — of water
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. field — farmland
  8. land — to come down
  9. scale — in music
  10. band — a music group
  11. kid — child
  12. land — ground
  13. foot — a measure
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. field — a subject
  16. land — a country
  17. race — a contest
  18. scale — size or range
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. kid — to tease
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. spring — a coil
  24. band — a ring

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