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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — employees
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. content — happy
  6. capital — money
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. land — ground
  9. bat — the animal
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. content — the amount
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. perch — the fish
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. land — a country
  18. capital — a city
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. staff — a stick
  21. land — to come down
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. rash — a series
  24. rash — hasty

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