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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.

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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: wound · content · march · chair · ball · net · bark · bat

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. content — happy
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. ball — a dance
  6. wound — an injury
  7. net — in sport
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. content — the amount
  15. march — the month
  16. bark — to shout
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. chair — a leader
  19. wound — an injury
  20. net — for catching
  21. march — music
  22. ball — a great time
  23. march — the month
  24. net — after costs

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