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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. fork — in a road
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. field — a subject
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. row — to paddle
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. field — farmland
  10. ground — crushed
  11. spring — a coil
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. spring — of water
  15. row — a line
  16. ground — a position
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. ground — the earth
  20. field — for sport
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. spring — the season
  23. stem — to come from
  24. fan — a supporter

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