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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. hand — in cards
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. press — a publisher
  7. spring — a coil
  8. hand — help
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. press — newspapers
  12. spring — the season
  13. content — happy
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. field — farmland
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. deal — to handle
  20. spring — of water
  21. press — to push
  22. field — a subject
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

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