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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. foot — a measure
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — farmland
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lie — to recline
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. land — to come down
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. game — a match
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. game — wild animals
  16. land — ground
  17. content — happy
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — the amount
  20. land — a country
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cold — an illness
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. lie — an untruth

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