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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 120 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: drill · swing · ground · spring · key · kid · squash · field

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. kid — child
  3. swing — in golf
  4. key — in music
  5. ground — the earth
  6. drill — a practice
  7. swing — to play on
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — a subject
  10. spring — a coil
  11. squash — the sport
  12. field — for sport
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. kid — to tease
  15. key — the most important part
  16. ground — a position
  17. spring — the season
  18. drill — the tool
  19. squash — to crush
  20. drill — army training
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. swing — music
  23. ground — crushed
  24. key — for a lock

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