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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. ground — crushed
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. scale — size or range
  9. content — happy
  10. ground — the earth
  11. scale — in music
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. content — the amount
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. hand — in cards
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. mine — for digging
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. ground — a position
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. mine — belonging to me

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