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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. spring — of water
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. content — the amount
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. content — happy
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. last — finally
  11. race — the arms race
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. race — a contest
  14. last — final
  15. degree — from a university
  16. degree — temperature
  17. last — to go on
  18. row — to paddle
  19. race — humankind
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. degree — an amount
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — the season
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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