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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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. field — for sport
  4. land — ground
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. rest — a break
  8. rest — what's left
  9. field — farmland
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — a country
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. rest — what's left
  14. clip — a video
  15. spell — letters
  16. fork — in a road
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. clip — for paper
  20. spell — magic
  21. field — a subject
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. spell — a short time

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