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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 120 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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. march — the month
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. net — in sport
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. march — music
  8. land — ground
  9. bass — low music
  10. content — the amount
  11. court — of a king
  12. bat — the animal
  13. court — of law
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. march — the month
  16. bass — the fish
  17. land — to come down
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. net — after costs
  20. court — for sport
  21. net — for catching
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. land — a country
  24. bowl — a dish

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