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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. hand — help
  4. field — farmland
  5. rash — a series
  6. hand — in cards
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — for sport
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. rash — hasty
  11. spring — of water
  12. file — a document
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. file — a tool
  16. ground — the earth
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. ground — a position
  20. ground — crushed
  21. file — a line of people
  22. spring — the season
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. rush — hurry

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