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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. march — the month
  4. shower — to wash
  5. cell — in biology
  6. mug — a cup
  7. mug — a face
  8. drill — army training
  9. race — a contest
  10. drill — the tool
  11. content — happy
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. mug — to rob
  14. content — the amount
  15. shower — rain
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — humankind
  18. spring — the season
  19. cell — a phone
  20. march — music
  21. drill — a practice
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. march — the month

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