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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. present — the time now
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. branch — a division
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. present — there
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. present — a gift
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bat — the animal
  24. racket — for tennis

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