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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. chest — of your body
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. field — farmland
  7. content — the amount
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of law
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. chest — of your body
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. roll — a cake
  15. court — of a king
  16. pitch — completely
  17. game — wild animals
  18. field — a subject
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. content — happy
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. chest — a box
  23. roll — a list
  24. calf — a young animal

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