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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. spring — the season
  3. file — a tool
  4. content — happy
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. pass — a permit
  7. snap — to click
  8. cue — a signal
  9. ground — crushed
  10. spring — of water
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. field — a subject
  13. file — a document
  14. cue — for pool
  15. field — farmland
  16. ground — the earth
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cue — a hint
  19. field — for sport
  20. file — a line of people
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. ground — a position
  24. content — the amount

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