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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. track — a path
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. content — the amount
  9. ball — a great time
  10. tear — from crying
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. sharp — clever
  13. track — to keep track
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. cold — not warm
  16. ball — a dance
  17. track — a song
  18. tear — from crying
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. vault — a safe
  22. wax — to grow
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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