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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rock — music
  3. pop — to visit
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. pop — music
  9. mark — a grade
  10. field — for sport
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. pop — soda
  13. field — farmland
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. tube — a container
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. content — the amount
  18. season — in sport
  19. tube — the underground
  20. wound — an injury
  21. season — of the year
  22. mark — a trace
  23. field — a subject
  24. rock — a stone

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