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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 116 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. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. land — ground
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. mug — a cup
  9. mug — to rob
  10. capital — money
  11. ground — the earth
  12. ground — a position
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. land — to come down
  16. spring — a coil
  17. ground — crushed
  18. capital — a city
  19. mug — a face
  20. content — happy
  21. spring — the season
  22. land — a country
  23. field — a subject
  24. content — the amount

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