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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. wind — moving air
  3. land — ground
  4. content — happy
  5. wind — moving air
  6. field — farmland
  7. spring — a coil
  8. content — the amount
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pit — a hole
  12. field — a subject
  13. pit — in a race
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — for sport
  17. spring — of water
  18. land — a country
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. spring — the season
  21. tear — to rip
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. land — to come down

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