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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. field — a subject
  4. capital — money
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. pit — in a race
  9. land — to come down
  10. spring — the season
  11. land — ground
  12. squash — the sport
  13. field — for sport
  14. file — a line of people
  15. field — farmland
  16. pit — a hole
  17. spring — of water
  18. squash — to crush
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. spring — a coil
  22. file — a document
  23. capital — a city
  24. land — a country

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