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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. staff — a stick
  3. fall — to drop
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. staff — employees
  6. rock — music
  7. field — farmland
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. rock — a stone
  12. field — a subject
  13. mine — for digging
  14. field — for sport
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. staff — employees
  17. content — the amount
  18. fall — the season

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