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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. content — happy
  3. content — the amount
  4. march — music
  5. craft — a skill
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. band — a music group
  8. spring — of water
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. band — a ring
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. craft — boats
  15. spring — a coil
  16. perch — the fish
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. march — the month
  19. spring — the season
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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