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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. field — farmland
  5. mate — a friend
  6. mate — a partner
  7. field — for sport
  8. hand — in cards
  9. date — the fruit
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mate — to breed
  13. cold — not warm
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. content — happy
  16. content — the amount
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. deal — to handle
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. hand — help
  22. chip — for betting
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. chip — to eat

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