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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 116 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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. shower — rain
  4. scale — size or range
  5. content — happy
  6. game — a match
  7. spring — the season
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. bear — the animal
  10. spring — of water
  11. content — the amount
  12. scale — in music
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. prune — to trim
  15. squash — to crush
  16. spring — a coil
  17. prune — to trim
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bear — the animal
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. shower — to wash
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. game — wild animals

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