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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. perch — the fish
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. content — the amount
  8. swing — to play on
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. swing — in golf
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. stem — to come from
  18. swing — music
  19. sharp — clever
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. pass — a permit
  23. bat — the animal
  24. stem — a stem cell

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