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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. spring — a coil
  6. season — of the year
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. pit — a hole
  9. mine — for digging
  10. content — the amount
  11. bore — to drill
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. kid — to tease
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. pound — a weight
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. kid — child
  20. spring — the season
  21. bore — to tire
  22. spring — of water
  23. pit — in a race
  24. season — in sport

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