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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 116 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 players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. dip — to sink
  3. ball — a dance
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — of water
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. field — for sport
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. band — a music group
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. field — farmland
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. content — happy
  16. spring — the season
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. field — a subject
  19. ball — a great time
  20. content — the amount
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. pitch — completely
  23. branch — a division
  24. band — a ring

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