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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. content — happy
  5. cell — a phone
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. field — farmland
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. race — a contest
  11. field — for sport
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. cell — in biology
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. content — the amount
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. race — humankind
  23. field — a subject
  24. race — the arms race

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