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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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468
Word bank
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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. degree — from a university
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. pass — a permit
  10. kid — child
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. land — to come down
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. branch — a division
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — the amount
  17. kid — to tease
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. land — a country
  21. degree — an amount
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. land — ground

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