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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. content — the amount
  5. spring — a coil
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. field — for sport
  9. spring — the season
  10. field — farmland
  11. rule — a law
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. spring — of water
  15. rule — government
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. stand — to bear
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. field — a subject
  24. mine — for digging

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