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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. content — the amount
  4. staff — employees
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. field — a subject
  7. file — a tool
  8. game — a match
  9. staff — employees
  10. staff — a stick
  11. game — wild animals
  12. file — a line of people
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a ring
  15. clip — to cut
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — happy
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. file — a document
  24. foot — part of the body

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