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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. wound — an injury
  5. content — the amount
  6. degree — temperature
  7. lie — to recline
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — moving air
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. net — in sport
  12. content — happy
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. degree — from a university
  15. march — music
  16. wound — an injury
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. march — the month
  19. degree — an amount
  20. net — after costs
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. net — for catching
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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