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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. spring — the season
  7. pit — a hole
  8. capital — a city
  9. bear — the animal
  10. spring — of water
  11. field — for sport
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. field — farmland
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. pit — in a race
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. capital — money
  21. bear — the animal
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. spring — a coil

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