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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. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. suit — clothes
  3. tear — from crying
  4. content — the amount
  5. suit — to fit
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. stand — to bear
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. row — a line
  14. scale — size or range
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. suit — in cards
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. row — to paddle
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bat — the animal
  24. scale — in music

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