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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. field — farmland
  4. cell — a phone
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. date — the fruit
  10. field — for sport
  11. content — the amount
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. pitch — completely
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. field — a subject
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. ball — a dance
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. ball — a great time
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — in a prison

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