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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  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. last — finally
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. sharp — clever
  4. chest — of your body
  5. plane — a tool
  6. cap — a lid
  7. content — happy
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. cap — of ice
  10. content — the amount
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. cap — a hat
  14. chest — of your body
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. spring — of water
  17. chest — a box
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. spring — a coil
  20. last — final
  21. last — to go on
  22. spring — the season
  23. deal — to handle
  24. content — videos and posts

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