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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 124 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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. cell — a phone
  4. field — farmland
  5. object — a thing
  6. stock — goods
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. row — a line
  10. content — happy
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cell — in biology
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — a subject
  15. row — to paddle
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. saw — the tool
  20. content — the amount
  21. prune — to trim
  22. object — to protest
  23. saw — the tool
  24. prune — to trim

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