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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 124 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. pop — soda
  4. rock — music
  5. file — a tool
  6. pop — to visit
  7. file — a document
  8. field — for sport
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. field — farmland
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. field — a subject
  14. file — a line of people
  15. pop — music
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. perch — the fish
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. rock — a stone
  20. bass — low music
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. mine — for digging
  24. mine — belonging to me

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