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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 kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. shower — rain
  4. snap — to click
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. ball — a dance
  7. band — a ring
  8. shower — to wash
  9. pop — music
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. band — a music group
  12. ball — a great time
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. pop — soda
  16. content — the amount
  17. pop — to visit
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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