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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 116 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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. spring — of water
  4. perch — the fish
  5. swing — in golf
  6. field — for sport
  7. capital — a city
  8. field — farmland
  9. ball — a dance
  10. swing — music
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. spring — a coil
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. spring — the season
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. swing — to play on
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. field — a subject
  22. ball — a great time
  23. capital — money
  24. perch — for a bird

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