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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 120 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 rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. file — a tool
  3. race — a contest
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. ground — crushed
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. rest — a break
  9. race — the arms race
  10. rest — what's left
  11. race — humankind
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. rest — what's left
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. content — the amount
  21. ground — a position
  22. sharp — clever
  23. ground — the earth
  24. sharp — exactly

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