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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. key — for a lock
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. field — farmland
  6. content — the amount
  7. pop — to visit
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. kick — in football
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wake — a trail
  12. field — a subject
  13. file — a line of people
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. key — in music
  16. file — a document
  17. pop — music
  18. field — for sport
  19. pop — soda
  20. rush — hurry
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. file — a tool
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. key — the most important part

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