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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. staff — a stick
  3. ball — a dance
  4. staff — employees
  5. spring — a coil
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. ball — a great time
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — the tool
  11. field — for sport
  12. hand — in cards
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. land — a country
  16. land — ground
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. spring — of water
  19. staff — employees
  20. hand — help
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — farmland
  24. spring — the season

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