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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. deal — to handle
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. club — for golf
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. content — the amount
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. club — for dancing
  18. club — a group
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bark — to shout
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wind — to turn a key

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