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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.

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: spring · content · staff · root · field · cold · craft · wound

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. staff — employees
  3. root — of a plant
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. wound — an injury
  7. staff — a stick
  8. spring — of water
  9. root — the cause
  10. staff — employees
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. spring — a coil
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spring — the season
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. craft — boats
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — happy
  20. craft — a skill
  21. wound — an injury
  22. root — of a word
  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