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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. field — for sport
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. tube — a container
  6. pit — in a race
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. lie — to recline
  9. season — in sport
  10. mark — a trace
  11. pit — a hole
  12. spring — of water
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. season — of the year
  16. field — farmland
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. tube — the underground
  20. spring — a coil
  21. field — a subject
  22. wound — an injury
  23. spring — the season
  24. mark — a grade

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