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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. content — happy
  3. spring — the season
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. bark — to shout
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. spring — a coil
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. track — a path
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. bat — the animal
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. spring — of water
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. date — the fruit
  19. sharp — clever
  20. track — to keep track
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. track — a song
  23. content — the amount
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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