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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. march — the month
  3. present — a gift
  4. content — the amount
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. wind — moving air
  7. present — there
  8. march — the month
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. present — the time now
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. snap — to click
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. craft — a skill
  16. wind — moving air
  17. march — music
  18. bat — the animal
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. chair — a leader
  24. craft — boats

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