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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bark — to shout
  3. mine — for digging
  4. wind — moving air
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. plane — a tool
  9. field — farmland
  10. track — a path
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. wind — moving air
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. track — a song
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — a subject
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. deal — to handle
  22. content — the amount
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. track — to keep track

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