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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. field — for sport
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. field — a subject
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. land — ground
  8. bore — to drill
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. bore — to tire
  13. date — the fruit
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. fork — in a road
  16. shower — rain
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. spring — the season
  20. shower — to wash
  21. spring — a coil
  22. land — to come down
  23. field — farmland
  24. spring — of water

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