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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. rush — hurry
  3. branch — a division
  4. land — to come down
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. spell — letters
  7. ground — a position
  8. ground — the earth
  9. field — farmland
  10. spell — a short time
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. field — a subject
  17. land — ground
  18. field — for sport
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. ground — crushed
  22. file — a line of people
  23. fork — in a road
  24. land — a country

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