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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. present — there
  3. present — the time now
  4. last — final
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. present — a gift
  7. chest — of your body
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. content — the amount
  10. degree — an amount
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. last — finally
  16. chest — a box
  17. degree — from a university
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chest — of your body
  21. pit — in a race
  22. saw — the tool
  23. last — to go on
  24. pit — a hole

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