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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 124 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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. pop — to visit
  4. land — to come down
  5. spring — the season
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. land — ground
  8. prune — to trim
  9. spring — a coil
  10. land — a country
  11. tube — a container
  12. field — a subject
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. chest — a box
  15. field — for sport
  16. prune — to trim
  17. tube — the underground
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. field — farmland
  22. pop — soda
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. pop — music

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