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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 116 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. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — of a river
  2. content — happy
  3. cold — an illness
  4. content — the amount
  5. land — to come down
  6. field — a subject
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. saw — the tool
  9. land — ground
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. bank — for money
  14. face — to point toward
  15. face — to confront
  16. saw — the tool
  17. land — a country
  18. field — for sport
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. cold — not warm
  22. field — farmland
  23. bank — for money
  24. face — part of the head

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