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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. mate — to breed
  3. court — of law
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. file — a document
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. court — for sport
  9. content — happy
  10. court — of a king
  11. sharp — clever
  12. file — a line of people
  13. drill — army training
  14. file — a tool
  15. drill — the tool
  16. can — to be able to
  17. can — a tin
  18. drill — a practice
  19. field — for sport
  20. mate — a friend
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. content — the amount
  23. can — a tin
  24. mate — a partner

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