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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. spring — of water
  3. field — for sport
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — a coil
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. pop — to visit
  9. field — farmland
  10. pop — soda
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. march — the month
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. board — to get on
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. pop — music
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. board — a committee
  24. dip — to sink

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