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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. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. field — a subject
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. capital — money
  6. game — wild animals
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. toast — bread
  9. mate — a friend
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. field — for sport
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. field — farmland
  14. capital — a city
  15. roll — a cake
  16. roll — a list
  17. mate — to breed
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. toast — the most admired
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. game — a match
  23. mate — a partner
  24. roll — on a roll

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