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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. tube — the underground
  3. hand — help
  4. content — the amount
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. field — a subject
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. capital — a city
  9. field — for sport
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. content — happy
  15. tube — a container
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — goods
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. capital — money
  20. hand — in cards
  21. lie — to recline
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. tube — in a tire

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