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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — from a university
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. content — the amount
  6. mate — to breed
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. degree — an amount
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. degree — temperature
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. capital — money
  16. march — the month
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mate — a friend
  20. prune — to trim
  21. capital — a city
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. prune — to trim

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