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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. field — farmland
  4. degree — temperature
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. content — happy
  7. spring — the season
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. branch — a division
  11. degree — an amount
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. field — a subject
  14. kid — child
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. spring — of water
  18. saw — the tool
  19. spring — a coil
  20. kid — to tease
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. field — for sport
  23. saw — the tool
  24. degree — from a university

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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