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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. land — to come down
  3. face — to confront
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. squash — to crush
  6. squash — the sport
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. content — the amount
  11. land — a country
  12. bore — to tire
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. hand — help
  15. face — part of the head
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. kid — child
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. bore — to drill
  20. land — ground
  21. kid — to tease
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. face — to point toward

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