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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. prune — to trim
  4. content — happy
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. march — the month
  7. march — music
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. content — the amount
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. sharp — clever
  14. prune — to trim
  15. spring — the season
  16. squash — to crush
  17. spring — a coil
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. spring — of water
  20. march — the month
  21. season — in sport
  22. season — of the year
  23. hand — in cards
  24. sharp — with an edge

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