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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. face — to point toward
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — part of the head
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. field — for sport
  11. kick — in football
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. field — farmland
  14. mine — for digging
  15. content — the amount
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. chest — of your body
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. chest — a box
  21. chest — of your body
  22. field — a subject
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. mine — belonging to me

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