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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. spell — letters
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. spell — magic
  5. present — there
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. branch — a division
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. spell — a short time
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. content — the amount
  15. lie — to recline
  16. present — the time now
  17. present — a gift
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. game — a match
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. ball — a dance
  24. ball — a great time

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