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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. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  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. ruler — for measuring
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. field — farmland
  5. content — the amount
  6. row — a line
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. field — for sport
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. ground — a position
  12. chest — a box
  13. content — happy
  14. ground — crushed
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. field — a subject
  18. cold — an illness
  19. row — to paddle
  20. ground — the earth
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. cold — not warm
  23. row — a quarrel
  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