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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — an amount
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. object — an aim
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. content — the amount
  10. scale — size or range
  11. object — to protest
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. object — a thing
  14. row — a line
  15. lean — to bend
  16. scale — in music
  17. degree — from a university
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. lean — thin
  20. present — a gift
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. row — to paddle

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