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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. ball — a great time
  10. rash — a series
  11. field — a subject
  12. cap — a hat
  13. content — happy
  14. rash — hasty
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. field — farmland
  18. cap — of ice
  19. squash — to crush
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. content — the amount
  22. squash — the sport
  23. cap — a lid
  24. squash — the vegetable

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