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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. content — happy
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. content — the amount
  8. sharp — clever
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. ground — a position
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bound — obliged
  13. cell — a phone
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. mine — for digging
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. bound — tied together
  20. bound — certain
  21. cell — in biology
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. ground — crushed

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