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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 116 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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. lean — to bend
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. spring — a coil
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. degree — temperature
  8. land — a country
  9. ball — a dance
  10. spring — of water
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. content — the amount
  13. lean — thin
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. degree — from a university
  16. chair — a leader
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. land — ground
  20. degree — an amount
  21. spring — the season
  22. kick — in football
  23. ball — a great time
  24. land — to come down

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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