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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. rock — a stone
  3. content — happy
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. rock — music
  6. band — a ring
  7. snap — to click
  8. band — a music group
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. present — a gift
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. present — there
  15. scale — size or range
  16. scale — in music
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. row — to paddle
  21. present — the time now
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. row — a line
  24. content — the amount

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