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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. snap — to click
  4. rule — government
  5. rule — a law
  6. present — a gift
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. present — there
  11. field — farmland
  12. stem — to come from
  13. march — music
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. fork — in a road
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — the amount
  20. march — the month
  21. present — the time now
  22. march — the month
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. rule — to rule out

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