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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. lean — thin
  3. prune — to trim
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. prune — to trim
  6. lean — to bend
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. shower — to wash
  10. field — a subject
  11. net — for catching
  12. drill — a practice
  13. net — after costs
  14. stand — to bear
  15. net — in sport
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a ring
  21. drill — army training
  22. field — for sport
  23. shower — rain
  24. drill — the tool

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