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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. foot — a measure
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. land — to come down
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. object — to protest
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. object — an aim
  9. rash — a series
  10. craft — a skill
  11. swing — to play on
  12. rash — hasty
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. content — the amount
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a line of people
  17. craft — boats
  18. swing — in golf
  19. object — a thing
  20. swing — music
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. land — a country
  23. land — ground
  24. file — a tool

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