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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. key — the most important part
  3. suit — to fit
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. key — in music
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. key — for a lock
  9. wind — moving air
  10. suit — clothes
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. band — a music group
  14. suit — in cards
  15. wind — moving air
  16. perch — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. band — a ring
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. content — the amount
  23. bat — the animal
  24. pitch — completely

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