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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.

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: content · season · chest · game · plane · mouse · wound · tear

  1. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. season — of the year
  3. game — a match
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. content — the amount
  6. content — happy
  7. wound — an injury
  8. tear — to rip
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. season — in sport
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. plane — a tool
  16. game — wild animals
  17. chest — a box
  18. wound — an injury
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. tear — from crying
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. tear — from crying

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