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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. perch — the fish
  3. game — wild animals
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. game — a match
  6. chest — of your body
  7. content — happy
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. craft — a skill
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. craft — boats
  15. content — the amount
  16. cold — not warm
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. mark — a trace
  19. cold — an illness
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. mark — a grade
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bowl — a football final

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