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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. spell — magic
  4. present — the time now
  5. kid — to tease
  6. content — the amount
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. content — happy
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. bat — the animal
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. pass — a permit
  17. spell — a short time
  18. present — a gift
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. spell — letters
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. present — there
  24. patient — a sick person

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