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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. content — the amount
  3. march — the month
  4. content — happy
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. march — music
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. spell — magic
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. march — the month
  12. spell — letters
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. spring — the season
  16. current — of water
  17. current — electric
  18. spell — a short time
  19. field — a subject
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bass — low music
  22. spring — of water
  23. bass — the fish
  24. racket — a loud noise

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