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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. present — the time now
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. chest — of your body
  6. lean — thin
  7. wind — moving air
  8. chest — of your body
  9. content — happy
  10. lean — to bend
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pop — to visit
  13. present — there
  14. pop — music
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. deal — to handle
  17. mine — for digging
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — the amount
  20. pop — soda
  21. chest — a box
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. wind — to turn a key

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