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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. snap — to click
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — a subject
  7. rule — a law
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. tear — from crying
  10. field — for sport
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. content — happy
  13. file — a line of people
  14. content — the amount
  15. safe — a strongbox
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. tear — from crying
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. tear — to rip
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. rule — government
  24. safe — out of danger

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