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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. cold — not warm
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — for sport
  6. content — happy
  7. tear — to rip
  8. foot — a measure
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. content — the amount
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. cold — an illness
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. pound — a weight
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. tear — from crying
  24. field — farmland

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