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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. content — happy
  3. spell — letters
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. content — the amount
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. file — a document
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. press — to push
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. press — newspapers
  14. file — a tool
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. spell — magic
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. spell — a short time
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. press — a publisher
  23. file — a line of people
  24. calf — of the leg

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