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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: last · field · file · pit · race · nail · content · lean

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. field — a subject
  3. last — finally
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. content — the amount
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. race — a contest
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a document
  12. pit — a hole
  13. field — farmland
  14. lean — thin
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. race — the arms race
  17. lean — to bend
  18. last — to go on
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. race — humankind
  21. file — a tool
  22. last — final
  23. field — for sport
  24. pit — in a race

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