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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rest — a break
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. field — for sport
  7. scale — in music
  8. club — for dancing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. rest — what's left
  12. net — for catching
  13. spring — a coil
  14. net — after costs
  15. field — farmland
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. club — a group
  18. land — to come down
  19. spring — the season
  20. field — a subject
  21. spring — of water
  22. rest — what's left
  23. club — for golf
  24. net — in sport

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