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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. row — a line
  4. band — a ring
  5. row — to paddle
  6. field — a subject
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. bear — the animal
  9. band — a music group
  10. game — wild animals
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. game — a match
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. pitch — completely
  18. fork — in a road
  19. field — for sport
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. bear — the animal
  24. mine — for digging

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