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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. saw — the tool
  3. chest — of your body
  4. sharp — clever
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. saw — the tool
  7. content — happy
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. content — the amount
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. chest — of your body
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. rash — a series
  19. rash — hasty
  20. chest — a box
  21. roll — a cake
  22. date — the fruit
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. content — videos and posts

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