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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 124 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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. content — the amount
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wind — moving air
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. capital — money
  7. content — happy
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a music group
  12. roll — a list
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. pit — in a race
  15. game — a match
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. roll — a cake
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. lean — to bend
  20. wind — moving air
  21. capital — a city
  22. game — wild animals
  23. lean — thin
  24. band — a ring

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