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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. court — for sport
  3. tube — a container
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. mug — to rob
  7. race — humankind
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mug — a face
  10. degree — from a university
  11. content — happy
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. degree — temperature
  15. lie — to recline
  16. court — of law
  17. race — a contest
  18. content — the amount
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mug — a cup
  22. tube — the underground
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. court — of a king

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