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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chest — of your body
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. key — for a lock
  7. file — a line of people
  8. chest — of your body
  9. row — a line
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cap — a lid
  13. object — a thing
  14. cap — of ice
  15. file — a tool
  16. key — in music
  17. object — to protest
  18. cell — in biology
  19. object — an aim
  20. key — the most important part
  21. chest — a box
  22. file — a document
  23. row — to paddle
  24. content — the amount

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