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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. track — to keep track
  3. spell — letters
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. spell — a short time
  7. dip — to sink
  8. spell — magic
  9. track — a song
  10. field — a subject
  11. spring — of water
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. track — a path
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. spring — the season
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. file — a tool
  19. stem — to come from
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. file — a document
  22. field — farmland
  23. spring — a coil
  24. file — a line of people

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