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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. lie — to recline
  3. degree — an amount
  4. field — farmland
  5. lean — to bend
  6. chest — of your body
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. tear — to rip
  9. field — a subject
  10. tear — from crying
  11. press — to push
  12. press — newspapers
  13. field — for sport
  14. chest — a box
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. degree — from a university
  17. lean — thin
  18. press — a publisher
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. content — happy
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. tear — from crying
  23. chest — of your body
  24. degree — temperature

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