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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: land · season · net · bat · mine · field · rash · spring

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. net — for catching
  3. land — a country
  4. rash — a series
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. season — in sport
  7. season — of the year
  8. net — after costs
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. spring — of water
  12. bat — the animal
  13. field — for sport
  14. land — ground
  15. field — a subject
  16. land — to come down
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. net — in sport
  19. spring — the season
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. spring — a coil
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. mine — for digging
  24. field — farmland

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