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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — a subject
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. bore — to tire
  5. toast — bread
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. perch — the fish
  9. bore — to drill
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. land — a country
  12. stock — shares
  13. land — ground
  14. stock — goods
  15. toast — the most admired
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. field — for sport
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a line of people
  21. land — to come down
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. file — a tool

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