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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. content — happy
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. content — the amount
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. last — finally
  9. bound — certain
  10. board — to get on
  11. court — of law
  12. kid — to tease
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. wake — a trail
  15. bound — obliged
  16. board — a committee
  17. kid — child
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. last — to go on
  21. bound — tied together
  22. court — for sport
  23. court — of a king
  24. wake — before a funeral

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