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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a match
  4. field — a subject
  5. spring — a coil
  6. bound — obliged
  7. bulb — for light
  8. field — for sport
  9. spring — of water
  10. content — happy
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. drill — the tool
  13. perch — the fish
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. drill — a practice
  16. field — farmland
  17. spring — the season
  18. content — the amount
  19. bound — certain
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. bulb — for light
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. bound — tied together

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