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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. ground — crushed
  5. swing — to play on
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. hand — help
  8. mine — for digging
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. field — for sport
  11. stock — goods
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. rash — hasty
  14. ground — a position
  15. hand — in cards
  16. ground — the earth
  17. swing — in golf
  18. field — a subject
  19. swing — music
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. stock — shares
  22. rash — a series
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. mine — an explosive

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