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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 sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. spring — a coil
  5. net — in sport
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. scale — size or range
  8. spring — the season
  9. scale — in music
  10. net — after costs
  11. file — a line of people
  12. stem — to come from
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a document
  18. net — for catching
  19. spring — of water
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. fork — in a road

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