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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  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. ground — a position
  2. bound — obliged
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — the season
  5. ground — crushed
  6. root — of a plant
  7. wound — an injury
  8. last — to go on
  9. root — the cause
  10. field — a subject
  11. bound — tied together
  12. spring — of water
  13. root — of a word
  14. wound — an injury
  15. content — happy
  16. last — final
  17. last — finally
  18. bound — certain
  19. field — farmland
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. ground — the earth
  23. content — the amount
  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