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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. When will it ________________ you to start?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. stand — to bear
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. kick — in football
  6. chip — to eat
  7. suit — to fit
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. content — the amount
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. suit — in cards
  13. net — after costs
  14. game — wild animals
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. net — for catching
  17. suit — clothes
  18. chip — for betting
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. net — in sport
  21. bat — the animal
  22. game — a match
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. bat — for baseball

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