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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. bass — low music
  5. field — farmland
  6. net — after costs
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. file — a line of people
  9. field — a subject
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — of water
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. net — in sport
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bulb — for light
  19. bulb — for light
  20. net — for catching
  21. spring — the season
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a document
  24. bass — the fish

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