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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. ball — a dance
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. content — happy
  7. content — the amount
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spring — of water
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. spring — the season
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. game — wild animals
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. bear — the animal
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. bear — the animal
  20. game — a match
  21. tear — from crying
  22. ball — a great time
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. spring — a coil

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