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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  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. pass — to succeed
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. pass — a permit
  4. track — a song
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. ground — crushed
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. game — a match
  10. track — a path
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. content — happy
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. hand — in cards
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. track — to keep track
  20. cold — an illness
  21. hand — help
  22. ground — a position
  23. ground — the earth
  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