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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. ball — a great time
  5. wound — an injury
  6. march — music
  7. content — the amount
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. wound — an injury
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. object — an aim
  13. march — the month
  14. bat — the animal
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. march — the month
  18. content — happy
  19. fork — in a road
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. object — a thing
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. ball — a dance

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