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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. field — a subject
  4. snap — to click
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. field — for sport
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. field — farmland
  10. toast — bread
  11. game — wild animals
  12. ball — a dance
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. roll — a list
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. spring — a coil
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. ball — a great time
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. game — a match

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