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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 120 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'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. firm — steady
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. chest — of your body
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. firm — a company
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. chest — a box
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — the underground
  17. chest — of your body
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. firm — decided
  22. plane — a tool
  23. bat — the animal
  24. content — the amount

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