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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. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. content — the amount
  3. craft — a skill
  4. game — a match
  5. clip — for paper
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. craft — boats
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. mark — a grade
  10. tube — the underground
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. clip — to cut
  14. tube — a container
  15. content — happy
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — farmland
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. clip — a video
  20. game — wild animals
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. field — for sport
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. mine — for digging

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