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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. field — farmland
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. race — the arms race
  7. field — a subject
  8. content — the amount
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. land — to come down
  12. race — a contest
  13. board — to get on
  14. wind — moving air
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. board — a committee
  18. land — ground
  19. content — happy
  20. race — humankind
  21. field — for sport
  22. land — a country
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. content — videos and posts

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