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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. game — wild animals
  3. field — a subject
  4. cell — a phone
  5. snap — to click
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. field — for sport
  9. cell — in biology
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. content — happy
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. game — a match
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. field — farmland
  20. fall — the season
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. fall — to drop

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