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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 116 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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. content — the amount
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. hand — help
  8. pitch — completely
  9. branch — a division
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. fork — in a road
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wake — a trail
  19. content — happy
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. hand — in cards
  23. season — of the year
  24. pitch — a sports field

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