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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. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. cue — a hint
  3. present — a gift
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spring — the season
  6. pop — soda
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. content — the amount
  10. cue — a signal
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cue — for pool
  13. present — there
  14. present — the time now
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pop — music
  19. spring — of water
  20. pop — to visit
  21. spring — a coil
  22. content — happy
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. bat — the animal

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