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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. field — farmland
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. object — to protest
  6. drill — the tool
  7. squash — to crush
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. object — a thing
  10. file — a document
  11. file — a tool
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — a coil
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. squash — the sport
  17. field — a subject
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. drill — a practice
  20. field — for sport
  21. drill — army training
  22. file — a line of people
  23. wind — moving air
  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