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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. degree — from a university
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. field — for sport
  8. bore — to drill
  9. content — the amount
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. pound — a weight
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. toast — bread
  14. content — happy
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. field — a subject
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. dip — to sink
  21. degree — an amount
  22. field — farmland
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. pound — to hit hard

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