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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. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. game — wild animals
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. file — a document
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. file — a tool
  9. game — a match
  10. field — a subject
  11. tear — from crying
  12. content — happy
  13. row — to paddle
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. content — the amount
  16. chair — a leader
  17. tear — from crying
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. row — a line
  20. file — a line of people
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. field — for sport
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. field — farmland

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