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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cap · plane · game · bark · season · chest · content · key

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cap — of ice
  3. bark — to shout
  4. key — the most important part
  5. chest — of your body
  6. content — the amount
  7. key — for a lock
  8. cap — a hat
  9. game — wild animals
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. chest — a box
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. cap — a lid
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. key — in music
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. plane — a tool
  21. season — in sport
  22. game — a match
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. game — a kind of play

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