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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 · chest · field · firm · fork · spell · stock · net

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  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. field — for sport
  2. stock — shares
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. firm — decided
  6. field — a subject
  7. chest — of your body
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. chest — of your body
  10. net — after costs
  11. chest — a box
  12. field — farmland
  13. firm — steady
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. stock — goods
  16. fork — in a road
  17. spell — letters
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. net — for catching
  20. net — in sport
  21. firm — a company
  22. spell — a short time
  23. mine — for digging
  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