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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. rock — music
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. content — happy
  6. bulb — for light
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. rock — a stone
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mine — for digging
  11. court — of law
  12. content — the amount
  13. last — finally
  14. court — for sport
  15. last — final
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. squash — to crush
  18. last — to go on
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. court — of a king
  24. bulb — for light

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