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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. plane — a tool
  3. cell — a phone
  4. land — ground
  5. drill — a practice
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. drill — the tool
  8. sharp — clever
  9. capital — a city
  10. capital — money
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. spring — the season
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. field — farmland
  17. spring — of water
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — for sport
  23. cell — in biology
  24. spring — a coil

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