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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. content — happy
  5. field — a subject
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. board — to get on
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. field — for sport
  12. content — the amount
  13. field — farmland
  14. sharp — clever
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. wind — moving air
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. wind — moving air
  19. board — a committee
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — the animal
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. kid — child

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