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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 116 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. wind — moving air
  4. season — in sport
  5. file — a line of people
  6. root — of a plant
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. root — of a word
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wound — an injury
  12. root — the cause
  13. season — of the year
  14. wind — moving air
  15. content — happy
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. file — a tool
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. file — a document
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. bat — the animal
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wound — an injury

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