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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. face — part of the head
  3. pitch — completely
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. land — ground
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. content — the amount
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. land — a country
  15. land — to come down
  16. face — to point toward
  17. wound — an injury
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. wake — a trail
  21. face — to confront
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. cell — a phone

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