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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. content — happy
  3. field — farmland
  4. content — the amount
  5. drill — a practice
  6. spring — a coil
  7. drill — the tool
  8. field — a subject
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. spring — of water
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. drill — army training
  13. spring — the season
  14. fork — in a road
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. rule — a law
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. prune — to trim
  20. rule — government
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. wind — moving air
  23. prune — to trim
  24. field — for sport

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