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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. root — of a plant
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. rest — what's left
  6. clip — for paper
  7. cue — a signal
  8. root — of a word
  9. bat — the animal
  10. rest — what's left
  11. root — the cause
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. last — final
  14. fork — in a road
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cue — a hint
  17. clip — a video
  18. field — a subject
  19. last — finally
  20. last — to go on
  21. rest — a break
  22. cue — for pool
  23. clip — to cut
  24. field — for sport

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