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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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. field — for sport
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mine — for digging
  5. file — a line of people
  6. file — a document
  7. field — farmland
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. wax — to grow
  11. scale — in music
  12. cell — a phone
  13. ground — crushed
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. scale — size or range
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. wound — an injury
  20. file — a tool
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. cell — in biology
  23. ground — a position
  24. field — a subject

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