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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. march — the month
  3. club — for golf
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. club — a group
  6. content — the amount
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. pit — a hole
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. hand — in cards
  11. march — music
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. kid — child
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rest — what's left
  17. hand — help
  18. rest — a break
  19. kid — to tease
  20. march — the month
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. club — for dancing
  24. pit — in a race

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