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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 116 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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. field — a subject
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. field — farmland
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. lean — to bend
  10. current — electric
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. field — for sport
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. hand — help
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. current — of water
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. hand — in cards
  20. current — happening now
  21. content — the amount
  22. content — happy
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. dip — to sink

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