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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. track — a path
  3. field — a subject
  4. wound — an injury
  5. field — farmland
  6. land — to come down
  7. field — for sport
  8. content — happy
  9. craft — boats
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. track — to keep track
  12. track — a song
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. stand — to bear
  18. content — the amount
  19. land — a country
  20. wound — an injury
  21. spell — a short time
  22. craft — a skill
  23. spell — magic
  24. spell — letters

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