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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. wound — an injury
  3. fork — in a road
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. game — wild animals
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. spring — the season
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. bat — the animal
  11. content — happy
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. date — the fruit
  17. spring — of water
  18. content — the amount
  19. press — newspapers
  20. press — a publisher
  21. spring — a coil
  22. press — to push
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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