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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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. 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. key — for a lock
  2. content — the amount
  3. hand — in cards
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cell — a phone
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. capital — a city
  11. hand — help
  12. key — the most important part
  13. cell — in biology
  14. key — in music
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. capital — money
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. mine — for digging
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. content — happy
  24. 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