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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. march — the month
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. wound — an injury
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. wound — an injury
  7. date — the fruit
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. march — music
  11. content — happy
  12. march — the month
  13. content — the amount
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. mine — for digging
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — a phone
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. rash — hasty
  21. rash — a series
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. vault — a safe

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