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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — child
  3. march — the month
  4. content — happy
  5. hand — help
  6. firm — steady
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. wind — moving air
  9. firm — a company
  10. firm — decided
  11. net — after costs
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. content — the amount
  14. wind — moving air
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. hand — in cards
  22. march — the month
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. march — music

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