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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. tear — from crying
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. rest — a break
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. mark — a grade
  7. content — the amount
  8. tear — to rip
  9. degree — an amount
  10. mark — a trace
  11. rest — what's left
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of law
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. spring — of water
  16. degree — from a university
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — a coil
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. tear — from crying
  22. degree — temperature
  23. rest — what's left
  24. court — of a king

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