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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  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. field — farmland
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. rash — a series
  8. content — happy
  9. bass — the fish
  10. pit — a hole
  11. last — final
  12. content — the amount
  13. bass — low music
  14. kid — to tease
  15. date — the fruit
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. rash — hasty
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. pit — in a race
  22. kid — child
  23. date — on the calendar
  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