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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bat — the animal
  3. spring — of water
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. land — to come down
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wake — a trail
  9. chest — a box
  10. land — a country
  11. chest — of your body
  12. field — for sport
  13. court — for sport
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — farmland
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. court — of law
  19. court — of a king
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. spring — the season
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bat — in an idiom

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