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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. field — for sport
  3. club — for dancing
  4. row — a line
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. content — happy
  8. squash — to crush
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. shower — to wash
  13. field — farmland
  14. shower — rain
  15. club — for golf
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. club — a group
  18. field — a subject
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. wind — moving air
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. row — to paddle
  24. squash — the sport

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