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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. field — farmland
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. spring — of water
  6. pit — in a race
  7. stem — to come from
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. wake — a trail
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — for paper
  13. spring — the season
  14. spring — a coil
  15. field — for sport
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. field — a subject
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — the animal
  22. clip — to cut
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. fork — in a road

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