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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. kid — to tease
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pit — a hole
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. cold — an illness
  7. prune — to trim
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pit — in a race
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — happy
  13. prune — to trim
  14. firm — decided
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — child
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. firm — steady

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