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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 120 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. file — a document
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. squash — to crush
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. file — a line of people
  9. field — for sport
  10. present — a gift
  11. field — a subject
  12. spring — a coil
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. spring — the season
  15. fork — in a road
  16. present — there
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. field — farmland
  19. wound — an injury
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. spring — of water
  22. present — the time now
  23. file — a tool
  24. scale — in music

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