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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · kick · field · cell · stock · kid · prune · content

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cell — in biology
  4. prune — to trim
  5. field — a subject
  6. content — the amount
  7. kick — in football
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. stock — goods
  12. wind — moving air
  13. content — happy
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. wind — moving air
  18. kid — child
  19. stock — shares
  20. cell — a phone
  21. prune — to trim
  22. field — for sport
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. cell — in a prison

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