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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. game — a match
  3. scale — in music
  4. scale — size or range
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chip — for betting
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. rest — what's left
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. game — wild animals
  11. present — there
  12. content — the amount
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. present — the time now
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rest — a break
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. chip — to eat
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. band — a ring
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. present — a gift
  23. band — a music group
  24. prune — to trim

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