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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 120 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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. season — of the year
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. content — happy
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. hand — help
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. content — the amount
  12. branch — a division
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. pitch — completely
  15. season — in sport
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. hand — in cards
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. mine — for digging
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. pitch — a sports field

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