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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: bat · field · spring · saw · prune · fall · pop · scale

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  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. saw — the tool
  2. bat — the animal
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. spring — the season
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. fall — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. scale — in music
  10. fall — to drop
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. pop — soda
  15. spring — of water
  16. fall — to drop
  17. saw — the tool
  18. pop — music
  19. prune — to trim
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. scale — size or range
  22. prune — to trim
  23. pop — to visit
  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