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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. charge — a price
  3. court — of law
  4. content — the amount
  5. rest — what's left
  6. cold — not warm
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. field — a subject
  12. charge — electricity
  13. field — for sport
  14. charge — in control
  15. court — for sport
  16. lean — thin
  17. cold — an illness
  18. field — farmland
  19. court — of a king
  20. rest — what's left
  21. rest — a break
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. lean — to bend

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