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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a match
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. field — a subject
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. swing — in golf
  11. fork — in a road
  12. file — a tool
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. pound — a weight
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — to play on
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. file — a document
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. march — the month
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bulb — for light

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