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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. land — a country
  4. land — ground
  5. drill — a practice
  6. shower — to wash
  7. root — of a word
  8. fall — the season
  9. field — for sport
  10. fall — to drop
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. drill — the tool
  13. land — to come down
  14. drill — army training
  15. root — of a plant
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. root — the cause
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. shower — rain
  20. fall — to drop
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. fork — in a road
  23. field — a subject
  24. ruler — for measuring

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