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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 120 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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. content — happy
  4. saw — the tool
  5. rush — hurry
  6. content — the amount
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. degree — from a university
  14. chest — of your body
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. degree — an amount
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. degree — temperature
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. bat — the animal
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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