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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 124 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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. file — a line of people
  3. craft — boats
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. file — a document
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. rock — music
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — the animal
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. rock — a stone
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. craft — a skill
  23. file — a tool
  24. content — the amount

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