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

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. pit — in a race
  3. content — the amount
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bat — the animal
  8. pit — a hole
  9. rule — a law
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — rain
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — in sport
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. shower — to wash
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. rule — government

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