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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. content — happy
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. land — ground
  5. content — the amount
  6. mark — a grade
  7. spring — the season
  8. land — to come down
  9. swing — in golf
  10. swing — music
  11. land — a country
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. mark — a trace
  14. field — farmland
  15. prune — to trim
  16. spring — a coil
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. squash — the sport
  20. prune — to trim
  21. spring — of water
  22. squash — to crush
  23. field — for sport
  24. swing — to play on

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