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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. hand — help
  3. mine — for digging
  4. chip — for betting
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. mark — a trace
  9. content — the amount
  10. bulb — for light
  11. chest — of your body
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chest — a box
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. chip — to eat
  17. hand — in cards
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. mark — a grade
  23. bulb — for light
  24. branch — a division

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