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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: kid · game · hide · spring · roll · field · plane · dip

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. field — farmland
  4. spring — the season
  5. field — a subject
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. kid — to tease
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. roll — a cake
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. plane — a tool
  15. spring — a coil
  16. game — a match
  17. dip — to sink
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. roll — a list
  20. spring — of water
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — wild animals
  24. kid — child

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