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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — employees
  3. content — happy
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. staff — a stick
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. net — in sport
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. march — music
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. march — the month
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — the arms race
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. net — after costs
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. race — a contest
  22. content — the amount
  23. net — for catching
  24. march — the month

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