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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. content — happy
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. face — to confront
  8. face — part of the head
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. face — to point toward
  11. game — a match
  12. cold — an illness
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bulb — for light
  16. field — a subject
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — the amount
  19. charge — electricity
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. charge — in control
  22. cold — not warm
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. charge — a price

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