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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. game — wild animals
  4. hand — help
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. bear — the animal
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. date — the fruit
  13. clip — for paper
  14. hand — in cards
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. game — a match
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pound — a weight
  19. bear — the animal
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. clip — a video
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — happy

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