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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. field — for sport
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. field — a subject
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. mine — for digging
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — the earth
  10. spell — letters
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. spell — a short time
  13. branch — a division
  14. pit — a hole
  15. court — for sport
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. pit — in a race
  18. court — of law
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. pitch — completely
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. ground — crushed
  23. court — of a king
  24. spell — magic

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