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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: saw · rash · field · chest · content · fan · wound · lean

  1. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. content — happy
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. lean — thin
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. chest — of your body
  9. field — farmland
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. saw — the tool
  12. rash — a series
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. rash — hasty
  15. wound — an injury
  16. chest — a box
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. field — for sport
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. content — the amount
  21. lean — to bend
  22. field — a subject
  23. wound — an injury
  24. content — videos and posts

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