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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. field — for sport
  3. toast — bread
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. current — happening now
  6. field — farmland
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. content — happy
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kick — in football
  12. content — the amount
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. current — of water
  17. chair — a leader
  18. current — electric
  19. bark — to shout
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. field — a subject
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. bat — the animal

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