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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. field — a subject
  3. can — to be able to
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. can — a tin
  8. land — ground
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — an injury
  11. content — happy
  12. can — a tin
  13. root — the cause
  14. root — of a word
  15. field — farmland
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. land — a country
  18. root — of a plant
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. content — the amount
  22. field — for sport
  23. wake — a trail
  24. land — to come down

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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