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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. land — a country
  4. rock — music
  5. land — ground
  6. spring — of water
  7. spring — a coil
  8. saw — the tool
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. land — to come down
  11. field — farmland
  12. clip — a video
  13. season — of the year
  14. field — a subject
  15. rock — a stone
  16. spring — the season
  17. field — for sport
  18. clip — to cut
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. clip — for paper
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. season — in 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