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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. track — to keep track
  3. fine — all right
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fine — high quality
  6. field — a subject
  7. scale — size or range
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. scale — in music
  10. track — a song
  11. field — for sport
  12. field — farmland
  13. court — for sport
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. track — a path
  16. court — of a king
  17. content — happy
  18. content — the amount
  19. cell — a phone
  20. chest — of your body
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. cell — in biology
  23. court — of law
  24. chest — a box

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