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

Word bank: clip · land · rush · field · nail · content · shower · firm

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. content — happy
  3. firm — decided
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. land — ground
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. land — to come down
  13. field — a subject
  14. land — a country
  15. rush — hurry
  16. clip — a video
  17. shower — to wash
  18. shower — rain
  19. field — farmland
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. firm — steady
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. field — for sport

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