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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. spring — a coil
  3. field — farmland
  4. spring — of water
  5. bulb — for light
  6. bulb — for light
  7. spring — the season
  8. bat — the animal
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. track — a song
  13. field — a subject
  14. squash — to crush
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. track — to keep track
  19. cold — not warm
  20. deal — to handle
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. track — a path
  23. field — for sport
  24. squash — the sport

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