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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. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fork — in a road
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. race — a contest
  7. kid — to tease
  8. mine — for digging
  9. march — music
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. race — humankind
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. kid — child
  15. march — the month
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. pound — a weight
  18. content — the amount
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. race — the arms race
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. march — the month
  24. pound — to hit hard

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