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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. present — there
  3. field — for sport
  4. tube — the underground
  5. spell — letters
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. tube — a container
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. field — farmland
  10. present — a gift
  11. perch — the fish
  12. prune — to trim
  13. board — a committee
  14. capital — a city
  15. board — to get on
  16. spell — a short time
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. spell — magic
  21. field — a subject
  22. capital — money
  23. prune — to trim
  24. present — the time now

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