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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. land — a country
  3. land — ground
  4. present — there
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. branch — a division
  7. field — a subject
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. present — the time now
  11. mate — a partner
  12. field — farmland
  13. mate — a friend
  14. bat — the animal
  15. mate — to breed
  16. land — to come down
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. file — a tool
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. present — a gift
  24. branch — of a bank

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