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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. race — a contest
  4. land — a country
  5. net — after costs
  6. race — humankind
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. season — in sport
  9. net — for catching
  10. race — the arms race
  11. land — ground
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. mine — for digging
  15. spell — magic
  16. stock — goods
  17. land — to come down
  18. spell — a short time
  19. spell — letters
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. field — a subject
  22. season — of the year
  23. stock — shares
  24. net — in sport

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