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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pop — soda
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — the season
  6. bark — to shout
  7. pop — to visit
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. pop — music
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. cue — a signal
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. field — for sport
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. cue — for pool
  17. cue — a hint
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. fork — in a road
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. field — farmland
  24. field — a subject

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