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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. craft — a skill
  3. content — the amount
  4. last — to go on
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. pit — a hole
  7. tear — from crying
  8. race — the arms race
  9. pit — in a race
  10. craft — boats
  11. race — a contest
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. last — final
  15. file — a line of people
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. file — a document
  18. tear — from crying
  19. last — finally
  20. tear — to rip
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. file — a tool
  23. race — humankind
  24. lash — to lash out

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