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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. capital — a city
  3. land — to come down
  4. wake — a trail
  5. land — ground
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. object — a thing
  9. object — to protest
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. land — a country
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. object — an aim
  15. content — the amount
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. capital — money
  18. wake — before a funeral

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