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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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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: pit · wind · ground · content · board · sharp · chest · spring

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. board — to get on
  3. ground — a position
  4. wind — moving air
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pit — in a race
  7. wind — moving air
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. chest — a box
  10. content — the amount
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — the season
  13. chest — of your body
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. content — happy
  17. sharp — clever
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. board — a committee
  20. spring — a coil
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. ground — crushed
  23. pit — a hole
  24. ground — the earth

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