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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. chip — to eat
  3. field — a subject
  4. pit — in a race
  5. kid — child
  6. spring — the season
  7. toast — bread
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. chip — for betting
  11. kid — to tease
  12. spring — a coil
  13. mine — for digging
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. field — farmland
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. pit — a hole
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. field — for sport
  21. spring — of water
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. chip — in a computer

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