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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. pop — soda
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. file — a line of people
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. tube — a container
  8. spring — the season
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. spring — a coil
  11. file — a tool
  12. spring — of water
  13. content — the amount
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. sharp — clever
  16. pop — to visit
  17. tube — the underground
  18. staff — a stick
  19. staff — employees
  20. staff — employees
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. pop — music
  23. file — a document
  24. straw — dry grass

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