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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. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — a stone
  2. rock — music
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. content — happy
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. field — farmland
  11. ball — a dance
  12. content — the amount
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cold — an illness
  17. ball — a great time
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. field — for sport
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. cold — not warm
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. field — a subject
  24. patient — a sick person

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