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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 reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. court — for sport
  3. net — after costs
  4. bound — certain
  5. scale — in music
  6. net — for catching
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. content — happy
  9. cell — a phone
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. sharp — clever
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. court — of law
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. content — the amount
  16. bound — obliged
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. net — in sport
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. court — of a king
  22. scale — size or range
  23. cell — in biology
  24. sharp — with an edge

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