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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. field — a subject
  3. present — there
  4. ground — crushed
  5. present — the time now
  6. shower — to wash
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. field — for sport
  9. rock — music
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. rock — a stone
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. game — a match
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. game — wild animals
  18. ground — a position
  19. date — the fruit
  20. present — a gift
  21. field — farmland
  22. ground — the earth
  23. prune — to trim
  24. shower — rain

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