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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bank — for money
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bank — of a river
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. game — a match
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. file — a document
  13. field — farmland
  14. game — wild animals
  15. file — a tool
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. perch — the fish
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bank — for money
  22. wind — moving air
  23. content — happy
  24. perch — for a bird

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