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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. stock — shares
  3. craft — boats
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. face — to point toward
  6. stock — goods
  7. game — wild animals
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. face — to confront
  12. field — farmland
  13. face — part of the head
  14. spring — the season
  15. craft — a skill
  16. spring — a coil
  17. perch — the fish
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. spring — of water
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. field — for sport
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. field — a subject
  24. perch — for a bird

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