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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. object — to protest
  3. field — a subject
  4. wind — moving air
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. content — happy
  7. field — for sport
  8. content — the amount
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. race — a contest
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. pass — a permit
  14. wind — moving air
  15. field — farmland
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. object — a thing
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. race — humankind
  20. squash — to crush
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. squash — the sport
  24. pass — to succeed

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