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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cap — a lid
  3. court — for sport
  4. foot — a measure
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. pop — soda
  7. cap — a hat
  8. date — the fruit
  9. fall — the season
  10. pop — music
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. content — the amount
  13. court — of law
  14. fall — to drop
  15. pop — to visit
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. cap — of ice
  18. bore — to tire
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. court — of a king
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. fall — to drop
  24. bore — to drill

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