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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. pop — soda
  3. ball — a dance
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. pop — music
  8. field — farmland
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. content — happy
  12. wound — an injury
  13. perch — the fish
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. field — a subject
  16. content — the amount
  17. pop — to visit
  18. field — for sport
  19. wound — an injury
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a document
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. perch — for a bird

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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