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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. field — farmland
  3. content — happy
  4. bass — the fish
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. field — a subject
  7. content — the amount
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. bass — low music
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. squash — the sport
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. march — music
  16. deal — to handle
  17. march — the month
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. squash — to crush
  20. march — the month
  21. field — for sport
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bass — the instrument

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