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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bass — the fish
  3. march — the month
  4. season — of the year
  5. field — a subject
  6. club — for dancing
  7. march — music
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. bass — low music
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. chair — a leader
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. club — for golf
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. field — for sport
  19. march — the month
  20. season — in sport
  21. perch — the fish
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. club — a group
  24. bass — the instrument

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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