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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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. mine — for digging
  4. spring — a coil
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. field — farmland
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. cell — in biology
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chip — for betting
  13. field — a subject
  14. object — an aim
  15. chip — to eat
  16. prune — to trim
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. field — for sport
  19. cell — a phone
  20. object — to protest
  21. spring — the season
  22. dip — to sink
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. spring — of water

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