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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — a coil
  4. pop — soda
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. field — for sport
  7. pop — to visit
  8. mate — a partner
  9. last — finally
  10. wound — an injury
  11. last — to go on
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. present — there
  14. mate — to breed
  15. wound — an injury
  16. present — the time now
  17. pop — music
  18. mate — a friend
  19. field — farmland
  20. pitch — completely
  21. last — final
  22. spring — of water
  23. field — a subject
  24. pitch — a sports field

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