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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. field — farmland
  3. last — final
  4. court — of law
  5. file — a document
  6. game — wild animals
  7. file — a line of people
  8. game — a match
  9. stock — goods
  10. field — a subject
  11. lie — to recline
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. last — finally
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. court — of a king
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. court — for sport
  19. field — for sport
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. file — a tool
  24. stock — shares

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