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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. field — farmland
  3. spell — letters
  4. stock — goods
  5. mine — for digging
  6. root — of a plant
  7. saw — the tool
  8. spell — magic
  9. root — of a word
  10. season — in sport
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. saw — the tool
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. spell — a short time
  15. pop — music
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. stock — shares
  18. pop — to visit
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. field — for sport
  21. pop — soda
  22. root — the cause
  23. field — a subject
  24. season — to add flavour

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