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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. content — happy
  5. ground — a position
  6. scale — size or range
  7. hand — in cards
  8. tube — the underground
  9. march — the month
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. tube — a container
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. ground — crushed
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. content — the amount
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. hand — help
  18. scale — in music
  19. march — the month
  20. march — music
  21. ground — the earth
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. bat — the animal
  24. content — videos and posts

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