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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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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. 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. field — for sport
  2. wind — moving air
  3. content — happy
  4. craft — a skill
  5. field — farmland
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. hand — in cards
  10. craft — boats
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. content — the amount
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. hand — help
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. 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