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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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. scale — size or range
  7. court — for sport
  8. dip — to sink
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. mine — for digging
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. content — the amount
  14. scale — in music
  15. stem — to come from
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. court — of a king
  19. snap — to click
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. hand — help
  23. court — of law
  24. hand — in cards

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