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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. capital — money
  3. charge — electricity
  4. field — a subject
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. content — happy
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. capital — a city
  9. content — the amount
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. plane — a tool
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. snap — to click
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. lie — to recline
  17. field — farmland
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. charge — a price
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. field — for sport
  22. fork — in a road
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. charge — in control

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