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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. object — to protest
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. tube — the underground
  6. object — an aim
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. field — a subject
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. mark — a grade
  12. stock — shares
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. cell — in biology
  17. tube — a container
  18. field — farmland
  19. prune — to trim
  20. mark — a trace
  21. object — a thing
  22. stock — goods
  23. field — for sport
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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