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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 · shower · saw · content · court · bear · land · tube

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. tube — the underground
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. field — for sport
  7. saw — the tool
  8. tube — a container
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. court — of a king
  12. bear — the animal
  13. court — of law
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. land — to come down
  17. saw — the tool
  18. land — a country
  19. court — for sport
  20. shower — rain
  21. land — ground
  22. content — the amount
  23. shower — to wash
  24. bear — the animal

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