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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. face — to point toward
  3. game — wild animals
  4. face — part of the head
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. staff — a stick
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. craft — boats
  10. game — a match
  11. craft — a skill
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. staff — employees
  14. face — to confront
  15. wind — moving air
  16. content — the amount
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. degree — from a university
  21. staff — employees
  22. degree — temperature
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. degree — an amount

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