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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. field — for sport
  3. content — the amount
  4. wind — moving air
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. game — wild animals
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. degree — temperature
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. field — a subject
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — goods
  15. degree — an amount
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. content — happy
  18. scale — size or range
  19. scale — in music
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. degree — from a university
  22. game — a match
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. field — farmland

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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