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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bay · kid · last · squash · hand · stem · pitch · content

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. squash — to crush
  6. stem — to come from
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. hand — help
  11. kid — child
  12. pitch — completely
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. kid — to tease
  16. last — finally
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. hand — in cards
  19. squash — the sport
  20. last — final
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. stem — a stem cell

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