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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. pound — a weight
  3. field — a subject
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. field — farmland
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. content — happy
  11. rash — hasty
  12. clip — to cut
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. stock — goods
  15. rock — a stone
  16. clip — a video
  17. scale — in music
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. rash — a series
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. field — for sport
  22. rock — music
  23. clip — for paper
  24. stock — shares

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