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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mine · spell · chest · stem · fork · wind · pitch · field

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — a short time
  9. field — farmland
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. fork — in a road
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. pitch — completely
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. chest — of your body
  18. mine — for digging
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — a box
  21. field — a subject
  22. stem — to come from
  23. field — for sport
  24. spell — magic

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