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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. face — part of the head
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. content — the amount
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. field — for sport
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. mine — for digging
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. chest — of your body
  11. face — to confront
  12. content — happy
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. chest — a box
  16. face — to point toward
  17. field — a subject
  18. mine — an explosive

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