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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. present — the time now
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. mug — to rob
  5. spring — a coil
  6. chest — of your body
  7. scale — size or range
  8. field — for sport
  9. mug — a face
  10. tear — from crying
  11. sharp — clever
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. field — farmland
  14. chest — a box
  15. present — there
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. tear — from crying
  18. chest — of your body
  19. field — a subject
  20. scale — in music
  21. tear — to rip
  22. spring — the season
  23. mug — a cup
  24. spring — of water

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