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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. bound — tied together
  3. degree — from a university
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. bound — certain
  6. content — happy
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. hand — help
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. degree — an amount
  13. hand — in cards
  14. bound — obliged
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. content — the amount
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cell — in biology
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. cell — a phone
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. degree — temperature

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