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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · spring · spell · mate · land · pop · field · march

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. spring — of water
  3. mate — a friend
  4. pop — to visit
  5. spell — letters
  6. land — to come down
  7. clip — for paper
  8. land — a country
  9. spring — the season
  10. field — for sport
  11. march — the month
  12. pop — music
  13. field — a subject
  14. march — the month
  15. mate — a partner
  16. land — ground
  17. clip — to cut
  18. spell — a short time
  19. march — music
  20. clip — a video
  21. field — farmland
  22. spell — magic
  23. mate — to breed
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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