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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. content — the amount
  4. toast — bread
  5. swing — to play on
  6. cold — an illness
  7. swing — music
  8. capital — money
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. swing — in golf
  11. branch — a division
  12. ground — a position
  13. ground — crushed
  14. capital — a city
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. content — happy
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bat — the animal
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. ground — the earth

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