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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. pitch — completely
  3. wind — moving air
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. court — for sport
  7. land — ground
  8. fork — in a road
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. root — the cause
  13. bass — low music
  14. spring — a coil
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. wind — moving air
  17. root — of a plant
  18. spring — of water
  19. court — of law
  20. land — a country
  21. court — of a king
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. spring — the season
  24. land — to come down

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