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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. shower — to wash
  5. charge — electricity
  6. charge — a price
  7. march — the month
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. drill — army training
  10. shower — rain
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. march — music
  13. content — the amount
  14. land — to come down
  15. charge — in control
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. march — the month
  18. bat — the animal
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. drill — a practice
  24. drill — the tool

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