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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cap — a hat
  4. spell — magic
  5. content — the amount
  6. game — wild animals
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. key — the most important part
  10. key — in music
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cap — a lid
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — help
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. game — a match
  17. hand — in cards
  18. spell — a short time
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. spell — letters
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. key — for a lock
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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