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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. march — the month
  4. spell — letters
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — to rip
  7. roll — a cake
  8. spell — magic
  9. mine — for digging
  10. spell — a short time
  11. content — the amount
  12. march — the month
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. vault — a safe
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. tear — from crying
  23. roll — a list
  24. march — 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