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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 teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. field — for sport
  6. march — the month
  7. stock — goods
  8. last — to go on
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. spring — a coil
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. march — the month
  13. field — a subject
  14. roll — a cake
  15. wake — a trail
  16. last — final
  17. march — music
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. cell — in biology
  20. last — finally
  21. stock — shares
  22. field — farmland
  23. spring — of water
  24. spring — the season

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