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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. game — wild animals
  4. bound — obliged
  5. charge — a price
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. pass — a permit
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. cold — not warm
  11. charge — in control
  12. charge — electricity
  13. content — happy
  14. row — a line
  15. rock — a stone
  16. bound — tied together
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. game — a match
  19. content — the amount
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bound — certain
  22. row — to paddle
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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