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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. mark — a trace
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. bass — low music
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. wound — an injury
  11. march — music
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. snap — to click
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. march — the month
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. mark — a grade
  20. march — the month
  21. content — the amount
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. bass — the fish
  24. trunk — of a car

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