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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. chest — of your body
  4. field — farmland
  5. capital — a city
  6. staff — employees
  7. field — for sport
  8. capital — money
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. chest — of your body
  12. mine — for digging
  13. fork — in a road
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. ground — crushed
  16. staff — employees
  17. bass — low music
  18. bass — the fish
  19. ground — the earth
  20. chest — a box
  21. field — a subject
  22. ground — a position
  23. staff — a stick
  24. mine — an explosive

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