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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. roll — a list
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. hand — in cards
  5. season — of the year
  6. field — for sport
  7. drill — army training
  8. hand — help
  9. capital — a city
  10. field — a subject
  11. drill — the tool
  12. field — farmland
  13. plane — a tool
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. drill — a practice
  16. content — happy
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. capital — money
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. roll — a cake
  22. season — in sport
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. content — videos and posts

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