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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. spring — a coil
  3. content — the amount
  4. kid — child
  5. firm — decided
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. spring — of water
  8. content — happy
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. spring — the season
  11. row — a line
  12. firm — steady
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cap — a hat
  15. firm — a company
  16. cap — a lid
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. kid — to tease
  19. wind — moving air
  20. cap — of ice
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fork — in a road
  24. row — to paddle

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