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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. field — farmland
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. scale — in music
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. last — final
  8. scale — size or range
  9. field — for sport
  10. wind — moving air
  11. last — finally
  12. last — to go on
  13. season — in sport
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. pound — a weight
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. field — a subject
  20. wind — moving air
  21. season — of the year
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. season — to add flavour

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