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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 was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. spring — a coil
  3. staff — a stick
  4. field — for sport
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. field — farmland
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. spring — of water
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — to trim
  13. staff — employees
  14. spring — the season
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — happy
  18. bat — the animal
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. field — a subject
  22. staff — employees
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. content — the amount

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