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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. band — a ring
  4. mine — for digging
  5. spring — of water
  6. chair — a leader
  7. field — for sport
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. spring — a coil
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. land — to come down
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. fork — in a road
  15. field — farmland
  16. band — a music group
  17. spring — the season
  18. staff — employees
  19. land — ground
  20. staff — employees
  21. land — a country
  22. staff — a stick
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. field — a subject

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