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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. chair — a leader
  3. field — a subject
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. rock — a stone
  6. mine — for digging
  7. field — farmland
  8. spell — a short time
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. spell — magic
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. roll — a cake
  15. spell — letters
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. field — for sport
  19. spring — of water
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. spring — a coil
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. spring — the season
  24. roll — a list

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