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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. content — happy
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. content — the amount
  5. capital — money
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. rock — a stone
  8. rock — music
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. board — a committee
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. shower — rain
  15. board — to get on
  16. shower — to wash
  17. ball — a dance
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. capital — a city
  20. stem — to come from
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. content — videos and posts

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