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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 120 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. march — the month
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. content — happy
  6. hand — help
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. kid — to tease
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. march — the month
  11. lean — thin
  12. content — the amount
  13. field — a subject
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. root — the cause
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. hand — in cards
  18. root — of a word
  19. root — of a plant
  20. dip — to sink
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. lean — to bend
  24. march — 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