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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. hand — help
  3. content — happy
  4. current — happening now
  5. spring — a coil
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. perch — the fish
  9. spring — the season
  10. current — electric
  11. bass — low music
  12. current — of water
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. hand — in cards
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. content — the amount
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — for sport
  19. spring — of water
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. dip — to sink
  24. bass — the fish

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