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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. wind — moving air
  4. hand — in cards
  5. rash — hasty
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. object — to protest
  8. object — an aim
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. hand — help
  12. rash — a series
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. content — happy
  15. wind — moving air
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. object — a thing
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. branch — a division

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