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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. content — happy
  3. bore — to drill
  4. degree — from a university
  5. spell — letters
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. degree — temperature
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. spell — a short time
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. spell — magic
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. degree — an amount
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. field — a subject
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. bore — to tire
  21. field — for sport
  22. kick — in football
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitch — a sports field

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