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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. scale — size or range
  4. club — a group
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. field — a subject
  7. press — a publisher
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. content — happy
  10. press — to push
  11. game — a match
  12. press — newspapers
  13. pound — a weight
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. game — wild animals
  16. field — for sport
  17. swing — music
  18. club — for dancing
  19. swing — in golf
  20. club — for golf
  21. content — the amount
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. swing — to play on
  24. scale — in music

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