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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. season — of the year
  6. land — a country
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. tube — a container
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. pit — a hole
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. field — for sport
  17. pit — in a race
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. season — in sport
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. land — to come down
  22. field — farmland
  23. field — a subject
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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