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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — the season
  4. pop — music
  5. field — a subject
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. root — of a word
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. pop — soda
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — an illness
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. cold — not warm
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. pop — to visit
  19. spring — a coil
  20. field — farmland
  21. root — the cause
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. field — for sport
  24. root — of a plant

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