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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. land — to come down
  4. key — the most important part
  5. game — a match
  6. field — for sport
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. clip — to cut
  11. land — a country
  12. field — a subject
  13. pass — a permit
  14. field — farmland
  15. game — wild animals
  16. key — for a lock
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. key — in music
  19. spell — magic
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. spell — a short time
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. spell — letters

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