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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bat — the animal
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. can — to be able to
  6. club — for dancing
  7. can — a tin
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. swing — to play on
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. swing — music
  16. club — for golf
  17. content — the amount
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. clip — a video
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. swing — in golf
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. club — a group
  24. can — a tin

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