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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. field — for sport
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. staff — a stick
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. lean — to bend
  7. field — farmland
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. content — happy
  10. swing — in golf
  11. lean — thin
  12. band — a music group
  13. spring — of water
  14. staff — employees
  15. content — the amount
  16. staff — employees
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — a coil
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. swing — to play on
  21. swing — music
  22. field — a subject
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. fan — to cool the air

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