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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. deal — to handle
  8. squash — to crush
  9. last — to go on
  10. pitch — completely
  11. last — finally
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. squash — the sport
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. board — a committee
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. content — the amount
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. board — to get on
  24. last — 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