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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  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. content — the amount
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. spring — the season
  5. field — farmland
  6. spring — of water
  7. cap — a lid
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cap — a hat
  13. content — happy
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bark — to shout
  17. wind — moving air
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. bulb — for light
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. cap — of ice
  22. field — a subject
  23. arm — a part of something
  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