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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. cell — a phone
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. last — to go on
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. pitch — completely
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. perch — the fish
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. hand — in cards
  12. content — happy
  13. mine — for digging
  14. last — finally
  15. content — the amount
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cell — in biology
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. hand — help
  20. scale — in music
  21. last — final
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. content — videos and posts

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