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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. field — for sport
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. kid — to tease
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. deal — to handle
  12. field — a subject
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. face — to point toward
  17. content — happy
  18. kid — child
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. face — to confront
  22. face — part of the head
  23. field — farmland
  24. row — a line

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