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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. snap — to click
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. scale — size or range
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. mine — for digging
  7. scale — in music
  8. rush — hurry
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. rest — a break
  11. rest — what's left
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. spring — of water
  14. stock — goods
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. field — for sport
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. field — a subject
  20. rest — what's left
  21. spring — a coil
  22. stock — shares
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. spring — the season

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