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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. game — a match
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. field — farmland
  5. spring — the season
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — for sport
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. spring — of water
  10. spring — a coil
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — wild animals
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. content — happy
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. straw — dry grass

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