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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: race · bat · staff · row · mark · trunk · content · season

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. staff — employees
  4. season — in sport
  5. race — the arms race
  6. mark — a grade
  7. race — a contest
  8. content — happy
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. content — the amount
  12. row — a line
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. staff — a stick
  15. mark — a trace
  16. race — humankind
  17. row — to paddle
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. bat — the animal
  20. staff — employees
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. season — of the year
  24. bat — for baseball

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