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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — a country
  3. bear — the animal
  4. field — farmland
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. face — part of the head
  8. capital — money
  9. field — for sport
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. root — of a plant
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — goods
  15. perch — the fish
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. face — to point toward
  18. root — of a word
  19. bear — the animal
  20. field — a subject
  21. land — ground
  22. face — to confront
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. root — the cause

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