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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. staff — employees
  3. content — happy
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — from crying
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. staff — a stick
  13. tear — to rip
  14. content — the amount
  15. net — for catching
  16. staff — employees
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — to shout
  21. net — after costs
  22. cell — a phone
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. net — in sport

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