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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 116 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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. staff — employees
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. shower — to wash
  6. staff — a stick
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. chair — a leader
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. bat — the animal
  11. kid — to tease
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. staff — employees
  17. kid — child
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. content — happy
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. shower — rain
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. perch — the fish
  24. chair — to sit on

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