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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. game — a match
  3. spring — the season
  4. field — for sport
  5. root — of a word
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. hand — in cards
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. root — of a plant
  10. hand — help
  11. mate — to breed
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. mate — a friend
  15. game — wild animals
  16. field — a subject
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. spring — a coil
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. spring — of water
  22. root — the cause
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. mate — a partner

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