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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. march — the month
  3. ground — a position
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. ground — the earth
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. field — farmland
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. march — music
  10. squash — the sport
  11. clip — to cut
  12. rest — a break
  13. clip — for paper
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — for sport
  16. rest — what's left
  17. clip — a video
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. squash — to crush
  20. march — the month
  21. ground — crushed
  22. rest — what's left
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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