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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. charge — a price
  3. scale — size or range
  4. spring — the season
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bulb — for light
  7. spring — a coil
  8. wind — moving air
  9. charge — in control
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. content — happy
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. roll — a cake
  17. bulb — for light
  18. roll — a list
  19. scale — in music
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. spring — of water
  22. content — the amount
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. bulb — of a plant

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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