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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: cold · firm · field · cue · date · content · hand · chest

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. firm — steady
  4. field — farmland
  5. chest — of your body
  6. content — happy
  7. cold — not warm
  8. content — the amount
  9. date — the fruit
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. cold — an illness
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cue — a signal
  14. hand — help
  15. cue — a hint
  16. firm — a company
  17. hand — in cards
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. field — a subject
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. firm — decided
  23. chest — a box
  24. cue — for pool

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