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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. rash — a series
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — an injury
  5. degree — from a university
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. spell — magic
  8. march — music
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. degree — temperature
  11. rash — hasty
  12. degree — an amount
  13. spell — a short time
  14. saw — the tool
  15. content — happy
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. spell — letters
  18. saw — the tool
  19. mine — for digging
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. content — the amount
  24. march — the month

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