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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. present — there
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. board — a committee
  5. present — a gift
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. tear — from crying
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. wound — an injury
  12. land — ground
  13. scale — in music
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. board — to get on
  17. present — the time now
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. land — a country
  20. tear — to rip
  21. wound — an injury
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. tear — from crying

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