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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. field — a subject
  4. spring — the season
  5. wound — an injury
  6. shower — rain
  7. land — to come down
  8. last — finally
  9. wound — an injury
  10. drill — army training
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. drill — a practice
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. land — ground
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. spring — of water
  17. field — farmland
  18. drill — the tool
  19. last — to go on
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. shower — to wash
  22. last — final
  23. land — a country
  24. field — for 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