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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. last — final
  3. content — happy
  4. content — the amount
  5. ball — a great time
  6. prune — to trim
  7. ball — a dance
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. fall — to drop
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. field — for sport
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. band — a ring
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. last — finally
  17. fall — to drop
  18. plane — a tool
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. field — farmland
  21. fall — the season
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. band — a music group
  24. last — to go on

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