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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. lean — thin
  3. current — happening now
  4. current — electric
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. prune — to trim
  7. lean — to bend
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. field — farmland
  11. current — of water
  12. wind — moving air
  13. ball — a dance
  14. ball — a great time
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. field — for sport
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — help
  21. content — the amount
  22. wind — moving air
  23. field — a subject
  24. prune — to trim

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