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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 120 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. content — happy
  4. net — after costs
  5. foot — a measure
  6. spring — a coil
  7. net — for catching
  8. row — to paddle
  9. bore — to tire
  10. drill — the tool
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — of water
  13. field — farmland
  14. net — in sport
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. field — for sport
  18. drill — army training
  19. bore — to drill
  20. row — a line
  21. field — a subject
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. drill — a practice
  24. bore — gave birth

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