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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. key — in music
  3. spring — a coil
  4. content — happy
  5. press — to push
  6. march — music
  7. file — a tool
  8. key — the most important part
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. press — a publisher
  12. kid — to tease
  13. key — for a lock
  14. file — a document
  15. prune — to trim
  16. press — newspapers
  17. spring — of water
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. content — the amount
  20. march — the month
  21. file — a line of people
  22. spring — the season
  23. prune — to trim
  24. march — the month

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