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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 who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fall — to drop
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. band — a ring
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. land — to come down
  8. tube — a container
  9. rush — hurry
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. kid — child
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. content — the amount
  16. kid — to tease
  17. land — ground
  18. tube — the underground
  19. band — a music group
  20. fall — the season
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. fall — to drop
  23. land — a country
  24. calf — of the leg

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