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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. spring — the season
  3. race — a contest
  4. pop — soda
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pop — music
  7. mug — a cup
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. race — the arms race
  10. mug — to rob
  11. season — of the year
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. chest — of your body
  14. spring — of water
  15. chest — a box
  16. field — a subject
  17. spring — a coil
  18. race — humankind
  19. mug — a face
  20. season — in sport
  21. field — farmland
  22. content — happy
  23. field — for sport
  24. content — the amount

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