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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. snap — to click
  5. season — of the year
  6. hand — in cards
  7. season — in sport
  8. fine — all right
  9. content — happy
  10. field — a subject
  11. content — the amount
  12. fall — to drop
  13. swing — to play on
  14. hand — help
  15. fall — the season
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. swing — in golf
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. swing — music
  22. fine — high quality
  23. fall — to drop
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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