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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. net — in sport
  3. ground — crushed
  4. content — happy
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. ball — a dance
  8. ground — a position
  9. season — in sport
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. cold — an illness
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. lean — to bend
  18. ball — a great time
  19. net — after costs
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. content — the amount
  23. net — for catching
  24. season — of the year

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