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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. hand — help
  3. row — a line
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. field — for sport
  6. hand — in cards
  7. net — after costs
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. net — for catching
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bear — the animal
  13. rush — hurry
  14. content — happy
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. row — to paddle
  18. field — farmland
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. net — in sport
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. content — the amount

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