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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. bulb — for light
  3. date — the fruit
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. mine — for digging
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. row — a line
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bulb — for light
  11. row — to paddle
  12. field — farmland
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. field — a subject

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