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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. file — a tool
  3. perch — the fish
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. march — the month
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. hand — in cards
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. file — a line of people
  11. fork — in a road
  12. march — music
  13. roll — a cake
  14. content — the amount
  15. hand — help
  16. tube — a container
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. roll — a list
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. file — a document
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. tube — the underground
  23. march — the month
  24. fork — a garden tool

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