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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. field — a subject
  3. key — for a lock
  4. field — farmland
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. march — music
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. drill — the tool
  9. march — the month
  10. march — the month
  11. drill — a practice
  12. perch — the fish
  13. content — happy
  14. field — for sport
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. drill — army training
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. key — in music
  21. key — the most important part
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. vault — a safe
  24. perch — for a bird

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