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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. field — for sport
  3. mine — for digging
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. swing — to play on
  6. tube — the underground
  7. spring — of water
  8. lie — to recline
  9. field — a subject
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spring — the season
  13. ball — a dance
  14. tube — a container
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — in golf
  17. bark — to shout
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. field — farmland
  24. ball — a round shape

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