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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. charge — a price
  3. field — a subject
  4. wind — moving air
  5. content — happy
  6. wind — moving air
  7. chest — a box
  8. last — final
  9. charge — electricity
  10. chest — of your body
  11. craft — a skill
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chest — of your body
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. sharp — clever
  17. content — the amount
  18. charge — in control
  19. last — to go on
  20. last — finally
  21. field — for sport
  22. craft — boats
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. field — farmland

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