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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. content — happy
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. pass — a permit
  6. lean — thin
  7. spell — a short time
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. lean — to bend
  16. spell — letters
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. chest — of your body
  19. snap — to click
  20. spell — magic
  21. chest — a box
  22. mine — for digging
  23. content — the amount
  24. mine — an explosive

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