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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. tube — a container
  3. game — wild animals
  4. row — a line
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — for sport
  8. spring — a coil
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. game — a match
  11. fine — high quality
  12. spring — the season
  13. bass — the fish
  14. bass — low music
  15. fine — all right
  16. row — to paddle
  17. field — farmland
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. craft — boats
  22. craft — a skill
  23. spring — of water
  24. fine — a penalty

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