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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. shower — to wash
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. content — the amount
  7. shower — rain
  8. can — a tin
  9. chair — a leader
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. drill — army training
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — the tool
  15. mine — for digging
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. game — wild animals
  19. can — a tin
  20. can — to be able to
  21. game — a match
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. arm — a part of something

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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