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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. march — music
  3. content — happy
  4. cap — a hat
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — the amount
  7. chest — of your body
  8. roll — a cake
  9. land — ground
  10. cap — a lid
  11. chest — a box
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. march — the month
  14. chest — of your body
  15. march — the month
  16. roll — a list
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. cap — of ice
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. land — to come down
  21. land — a country
  22. sharp — clever
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. roll — on a roll

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