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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  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. content — happy
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. pit — a hole
  5. content — the amount
  6. spell — a short time
  7. pit — in a race
  8. ball — a dance
  9. branch — a division
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. spell — magic
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. spell — letters
  20. cold — an illness
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. ball — a great time
  23. bowl — to roll
  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