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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 120 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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. rash — hasty
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. rash — a series
  5. spring — a coil
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a line of people
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. spring — of water
  12. squash — to crush
  13. ball — a dance
  14. ball — a great time
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. field — for sport
  17. bore — to tire
  18. squash — the sport
  19. bore — to drill
  20. file — a tool
  21. spring — the season
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. game — a match

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