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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. spring — a coil
  4. field — a subject
  5. swing — music
  6. swing — in golf
  7. ball — a dance
  8. bound — tied together
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. content — happy
  11. ball — a great time
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. season — of the year
  14. field — for sport
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. content — the amount
  18. swing — to play on
  19. mine — for digging
  20. bound — certain
  21. bound — obliged
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. spring — of water
  24. spring — the season

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