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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 120 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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. field — farmland
  5. spring — the season
  6. bank — for money
  7. spring — of water
  8. bank — of a river
  9. field — a subject
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. bank — for money
  12. bass — low music
  13. wax — to grow
  14. field — for sport
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. cold — not warm
  17. plane — a tool
  18. bass — the fish
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. plane — an aircraft

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