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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. stem — to come from
  3. can — a tin
  4. content — happy
  5. field — for sport
  6. scale — size or range
  7. can — a tin
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. perch — the fish
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. content — the amount
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. field — a subject
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. can — to be able to
  19. scale — in music
  20. mine — for digging
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. perch — for a bird

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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