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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. field — farmland
  7. bear — the animal
  8. clip — to cut
  9. stock — goods
  10. field — for sport
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. clip — for paper
  13. key — for a lock
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stock — shares
  16. key — in music
  17. bear — the animal
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. field — a subject
  20. key — the most important part
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. clip — a video
  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