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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: date · mine · wind · root · net · field · fork · mate

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — farmland
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. mate — a friend
  6. net — after costs
  7. mine — for digging
  8. net — in sport
  9. net — for catching
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. mate — a partner
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. root — of a plant
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fork — in a road
  16. wind — moving air
  17. root — of a word
  18. date — the fruit
  19. field — for sport
  20. mate — to breed
  21. root — the cause
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. wind — to turn a key

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