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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. race — humankind
  3. race — a contest
  4. rock — music
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. content — happy
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. content — the amount
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. charge — in control
  12. field — farmland
  13. rock — a stone
  14. charge — a price
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — an amount
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. race — the arms race
  19. field — a subject
  20. mine — for digging
  21. field — for sport
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. charge — electricity
  24. degree — from a university

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