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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. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — in geometry
  2. stem — to come from
  3. spring — a coil
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. game — wild animals
  6. spring — of water
  7. season — in sport
  8. land — ground
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. land — a country
  11. season — of the year
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. field — a subject
  14. land — to come down
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. pitch — completely
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. field — farmland
  21. spring — the season
  22. field — for sport
  23. game — a match
  24. plane — a tool

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