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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. kid — to tease
  3. fall — to drop
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. fall — to drop
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. craft — a skill
  13. perch — the fish
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. content — the amount
  16. kid — child
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. band — a music group
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. band — a ring
  21. capital — money
  22. fall — the season
  23. craft — boats
  24. capital — a city

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