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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. bound — certain
  3. ball — a dance
  4. degree — temperature
  5. clip — for paper
  6. field — for sport
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bound — obliged
  9. clip — a video
  10. content — the amount
  11. stand — to bear
  12. clip — to cut
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. field — a subject
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a great time
  17. field — farmland
  18. ground — crushed
  19. bound — tied together
  20. degree — from a university
  21. ground — the earth
  22. content — happy
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. ground — a position

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