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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  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. kid — to tease
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. content — happy
  4. shower — to wash
  5. board — a committee
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. stand — to bear
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — moving air
  11. board — to get on
  12. perch — the fish
  13. kid — child
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. field — a subject
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. field — farmland
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — rain
  23. wind — to turn a key
  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