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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. snap — to click
  3. kick — in football
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. ground — a position
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. ground — the earth
  10. capital — a city
  11. band — a ring
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. content — the amount
  15. band — a music group
  16. last — finally
  17. last — to go on
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. last — final
  20. capital — money
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. ground — crushed

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