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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. land — a country
  3. club — for dancing
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. firm — steady
  6. land — to come down
  7. bat — the animal
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — for sport
  10. club — a group
  11. perch — the fish
  12. club — for golf
  13. spring — a coil
  14. firm — a company
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. land — ground
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. spring — of water
  23. spring — the season
  24. firm — decided

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