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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. When will it ________________ you to start?
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. 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. ground — a position
  2. file — a document
  3. field — farmland
  4. content — happy
  5. fine — all right
  6. fine — high quality
  7. ground — crushed
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. field — for sport
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. suit — clothes
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. content — the amount
  16. file — a tool
  17. suit — to fit
  18. ground — the earth
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — the animal
  21. suit — in cards
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. file — a line of people
  24. 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