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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bark — to shout
  5. bound — tied together
  6. bound — obliged
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. chip — to eat
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bat — the animal
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. tear — to rip
  16. stand — to bear
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. sharp — clever
  19. chip — for betting
  20. bound — certain
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. content — the 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