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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. capital — a city
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. kid — to tease
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. land — to come down
  7. field — a subject
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — of water
  10. capital — money
  11. field — farmland
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. kid — child
  16. land — a country
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. land — ground
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. plane — a tool
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. spring — the season
  23. vault — a safe
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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