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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. content — happy
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. file — a document
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. spring — a coil
  7. saw — the tool
  8. content — the amount
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. file — a tool
  12. spring — of water
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. field — for sport
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. dip — to sink
  17. saw — the tool
  18. field — a subject
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. file — a line of people
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. spring — the season

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