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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. content — the amount
  3. drill — army training
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. drill — a practice
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. drill — the tool
  10. rash — a series
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. content — happy
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — to wash
  18. mine — for digging
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. ground — the earth
  21. rash — hasty
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. deal — to handle

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