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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. content — happy
  4. key — the most important part
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. content — the amount
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. field — for sport
  10. game — a match
  11. pound — a weight
  12. band — a ring
  13. band — a music group
  14. field — farmland
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. key — in music
  19. key — for a lock
  20. field — a subject
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. game — wild animals

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