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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. row — a line
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bat — the animal
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. kid — child
  8. cell — a phone
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. row — to paddle
  11. cell — in biology
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. press — newspapers
  14. press — a publisher
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. content — the amount
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. press — to push

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