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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 120 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. snap — to click
  4. content — the amount
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. field — farmland
  7. scale — size or range
  8. spell — magic
  9. scale — in music
  10. field — for sport
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. content — happy
  15. deal — to handle
  16. spell — a short time
  17. wind — moving air
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. spell — letters
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. file — a line of people
  24. wind — moving air

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