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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 116 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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. field — farmland
  3. row — a line
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. capital — money
  7. row — to paddle
  8. season — of the year
  9. mug — a cup
  10. field — for sport
  11. capital — a city
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. content — happy
  15. content — the amount
  16. mug — a face
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. season — in sport
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. field — a subject
  23. dip — to sink
  24. content — videos and posts

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