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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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Word bank
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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: content · field · pitcher · hand · shower · wound · bore · lean

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. lean — to bend
  3. hand — in cards
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. bore — to tire
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. shower — rain
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. lean — thin
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — the amount
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. wound — an injury
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. bore — to drill
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. shower — to wash
  23. hand — help
  24. field — a subject

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