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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. last — to go on
  4. march — the month
  5. cold — not warm
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. content — happy
  11. cold — an illness
  12. last — finally
  13. last — final
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. mark — a trace
  16. march — the month
  17. ball — a great time
  18. perch — the fish
  19. mark — a grade
  20. content — the amount
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. march — music

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