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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. chair — a leader
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cell — in biology
  7. field — for sport
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. foot — a measure
  10. rock — a stone
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — a coil
  13. field — a subject
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. cell — a phone
  16. spring — of water
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. drill — a practice
  19. row — a line
  20. drill — army training
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. drill — the tool
  24. field — farmland

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