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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. field — farmland
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. spring — a coil
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. field — a subject
  8. pop — to visit
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. spring — of water
  14. pop — soda
  15. prune — to trim
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. field — for sport
  19. hand — in cards
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. spring — the season
  22. pop — music
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. nail — for a hammer

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