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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wound — an injury
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. field — farmland
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. last — final
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. content — the amount
  9. current — electric
  10. field — for sport
  11. wind — moving air
  12. content — happy
  13. last — to go on
  14. chest — of your body
  15. current — of water
  16. wound — an injury
  17. season — in sport
  18. current — happening now
  19. wind — moving air
  20. season — of the year
  21. last — finally
  22. chest — a box
  23. field — a subject
  24. chest — of your body

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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