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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. field — for sport
  3. bat — the animal
  4. shower — to wash
  5. game — a match
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. file — a document
  11. can — a tin
  12. field — a subject
  13. file — a tool
  14. shower — rain
  15. can — to be able to
  16. game — wild animals
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. field — farmland
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. can — a tin
  22. spring — the season
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bat — for baseball

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