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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. spring — a coil
  4. net — after costs
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — for sport
  7. rock — music
  8. spring — the season
  9. pop — soda
  10. bark — to shout
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pop — music
  14. field — farmland
  15. net — in sport
  16. season — of the year
  17. pop — to visit
  18. capital — a city
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. net — for catching
  21. capital — money
  22. rock — a stone
  23. spring — of water
  24. season — in sport

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