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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. object — an aim
  3. row — a line
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. race — the arms race
  7. content — the amount
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. race — humankind
  12. object — a thing
  13. race — a contest
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cell — a phone
  19. object — to protest
  20. kid — to tease
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cell — in biology
  23. kid — child
  24. bat — the animal

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