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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. field — for sport
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. field — farmland
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. drill — a practice
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. field — a subject
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. drill — army training
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. tube — the underground
  17. drill — the tool
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. tube — a container
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. stem — to come from
  23. content — the amount
  24. bat — the animal

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