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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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. race — the arms race
  3. march — the month
  4. field — farmland
  5. capital — money
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. capital — a city
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. chest — a box
  10. content — the amount
  11. band — a music group
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. content — happy
  14. race — a contest
  15. march — music
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. chest — of your body
  18. field — for sport
  19. band — a ring
  20. march — the month
  21. race — humankind
  22. chest — of your body
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. band — a rubber band

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