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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. bat — the animal
  3. last — final
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. firm — steady
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. field — for sport
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cell — in biology
  16. root — the cause
  17. pound — a weight
  18. root — of a plant
  19. last — to go on
  20. fork — in a road
  21. firm — decided
  22. root — of a word
  23. last — finally
  24. cell — a phone

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