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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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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. pound — a weight
  3. saw — the tool
  4. drill — army training
  5. saw — the tool
  6. ground — crushed
  7. drill — the tool
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. drill — a practice
  10. hand — help
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. ground — a position
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. content — the amount
  17. ground — the earth
  18. content — videos and posts

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