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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 116 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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bat — the animal
  3. hand — help
  4. mine — for digging
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. ground — a position
  8. ground — the earth
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. hand — in cards
  13. staff — employees
  14. land — ground
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. bulb — for light
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. bulb — for light
  21. staff — employees
  22. staff — a stick
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — a country

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