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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. cold — an illness
  3. game — a match
  4. game — wild animals
  5. content — the amount
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. face — to confront
  8. field — farmland
  9. fork — in a road
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. field — for sport
  14. tear — to rip
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. cold — not warm
  17. content — happy
  18. face — to point toward
  19. face — part of the head
  20. tear — from crying
  21. field — a subject
  22. ball — a dance
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. ball — a great time

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