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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bark — to shout
  3. content — the amount
  4. chair — a leader
  5. field — a subject
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. spring — of water
  8. field — for sport
  9. spring — a coil
  10. field — farmland
  11. can — a tin
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. degree — temperature
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. stock — goods
  17. degree — from a university
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. stock — shares
  20. can — to be able to
  21. spring — the season
  22. can — a tin
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. degree — an 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