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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. branch — a division
  4. squash — the sport
  5. kid — to tease
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. field — farmland
  8. stem — to come from
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. squash — to crush
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. pitch — completely
  17. dip — to sink
  18. field — for sport
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. kid — child
  21. fork — in a road
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. field — a subject
  24. branch — of a tree

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