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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. content — happy
  3. season — in sport
  4. clip — to cut
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. clip — for paper
  8. ball — a dance
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. rush — hurry
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. clip — a video
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. ball — a great time
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. roll — a list
  23. content — the amount
  24. roll — a cake

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