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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. season — in sport
  3. last — finally
  4. degree — from a university
  5. net — in sport
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. season — of the year
  10. last — to go on
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. net — for catching
  13. perch — the fish
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. degree — temperature
  17. net — after costs
  18. degree — an amount
  19. last — final
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. content — the amount
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. straw — dry grass

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