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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. club — for dancing
  3. club — for golf
  4. field — farmland
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. root — of a plant
  7. content — the amount
  8. foot — a measure
  9. field — a subject
  10. bank — for money
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. bank — for money
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. field — for sport
  15. net — for catching
  16. root — of a word
  17. club — a group
  18. net — after costs
  19. net — in sport
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. branch — a division
  22. root — the cause
  23. bank — of a river
  24. content — videos and posts

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