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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. ground — crushed
  3. march — the month
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. march — music
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. hand — help
  11. court — of a king
  12. ground — the earth
  13. bat — the animal
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. march — the month
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. ground — a position
  18. content — happy
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. content — the amount
  21. court — for sport
  22. court — of law
  23. rash — a series
  24. hand — part of the body

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