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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 116 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. field — farmland
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. capital — a city
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. content — happy
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — for sport
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. pop — soda
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. wound — an injury
  14. content — the amount
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. pop — music
  19. capital — money
  20. pop — to visit
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. snap — to click

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