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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. field — farmland
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. field — for sport
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. scale — size or range
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. wound — an injury
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. perch — the fish
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. scale — in music
  20. pop — soda
  21. pop — music
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. field — a subject
  24. pop — to visit

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