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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. bank — for money
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. degree — an amount
  5. content — happy
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bank — of a river
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. spell — a short time
  14. saw — the tool
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — the amount
  17. wind — moving air
  18. kid — child
  19. spell — magic
  20. saw — the tool
  21. degree — from a university
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. bank — for money
  24. wind — moving air

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