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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cap — a lid
  4. content — the amount
  5. face — to confront
  6. rock — music
  7. press — a publisher
  8. cap — of ice
  9. cap — a hat
  10. face — to point toward
  11. rock — a stone
  12. wind — moving air
  13. kid — child
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. face — part of the head
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — to push
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bulb — for light
  21. bulb — for light
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. bulb — of a plant
  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