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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. field — farmland
  3. content — happy
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. field — for sport
  6. land — a country
  7. content — the amount
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. field — a subject
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. spring — a coil
  16. land — to come down
  17. kick — in football
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. land — ground
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. spring — of water
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. spring — the season
  24. net — after costs

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