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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. court — of a king
  3. cell — a phone
  4. lean — thin
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. content — happy
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. field — for sport
  12. charge — a price
  13. field — farmland
  14. charge — electricity
  15. field — a subject
  16. content — the amount
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. charge — in control
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of law
  21. lean — to bend
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — in biology
  24. mine — belonging to me

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