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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. foot — a measure
  3. field — a subject
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. content — happy
  7. press — to push
  8. field — for sport
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. squash — the sport
  11. chest — of your body
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. press — a publisher
  14. chest — a box
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. stem — to come from
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. press — newspapers
  20. dip — to sink
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. content — the amount
  23. squash — to crush
  24. content — videos and posts

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