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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. hand — in cards
  3. present — there
  4. present — the time now
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bass — low music
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. ground — a position
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. degree — from a university
  12. content — the amount
  13. ground — crushed
  14. present — a gift
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. hand — help
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. ground — the earth
  19. bass — the fish
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. fork — in a road
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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