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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 120 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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. content — the amount
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. race — a contest
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. cap — of ice
  8. race — the arms race
  9. fork — in a road
  10. race — humankind
  11. cap — a hat
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — of water
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. swing — to play on
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. content — happy
  19. cell — a phone
  20. swing — in golf
  21. ball — a dance
  22. swing — music
  23. cap — a lid
  24. cell — in biology

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