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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: race · field · bass · suit · kid · foot · content · fall

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. suit — to fit
  3. content — happy
  4. foot — a measure
  5. fall — the season
  6. bass — low music
  7. field — farmland
  8. race — the arms race
  9. kid — to tease
  10. fall — to drop
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. suit — clothes
  13. field — for sport
  14. kid — child
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. race — a contest
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. content — the amount
  21. field — a subject
  22. bass — the fish
  23. suit — in cards
  24. race — humankind

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