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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. race — a contest
  8. deal — to handle
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. bat — the animal
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. stem — to come from
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. race — humankind
  17. hand — help
  18. row — to paddle
  19. hand — in cards
  20. race — the arms race
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. stem — a stem cell

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