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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. tear — to rip
  6. capital — a city
  7. toast — bread
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. chest — of your body
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — wild animals
  16. tear — from crying
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. tear — from crying
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. content — happy
  22. capital — money
  23. chest — a box
  24. game — a match

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