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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: field · content · ball · date · chest · firm · shower · mine

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. firm — steady
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. chest — of your body
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. shower — rain
  8. chest — of your body
  9. field — a subject
  10. firm — decided
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. chest — a box
  13. firm — a company
  14. ball — a great time
  15. date — the fruit
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — the amount
  18. field — farmland
  19. content — happy
  20. field — for sport
  21. shower — to wash
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. mine — for digging

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