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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. press — to push
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. degree — an amount
  7. saw — the tool
  8. bat — the animal
  9. race — the arms race
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. bore — to drill
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. press — a publisher
  15. content — the amount
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. press — newspapers
  19. bore — to tire
  20. chair — a leader
  21. degree — from a university
  22. race — humankind
  23. saw — the tool
  24. race — a contest

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