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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 116 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. hand — help
  6. bass — low music
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fine — high quality
  9. fine — all right
  10. content — the amount
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. bass — the fish
  14. hand — in cards
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — the animal
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. dip — to sink

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