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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 124 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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. board — a committee
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. object — to protest
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. object — a thing
  7. field — farmland
  8. key — in music
  9. chest — a box
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. present — a gift
  13. wax — to grow
  14. key — the most important part
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. board — to get on
  17. content — happy
  18. content — the amount
  19. chest — of your body
  20. key — for a lock
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. chest — of your body

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