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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. content — happy
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cell — in biology
  6. pop — soda
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. row — a line
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. snap — to click
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. row — to paddle
  13. shower — rain
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. pop — to visit
  18. mine — for digging
  19. rash — hasty
  20. content — the amount
  21. shower — to wash
  22. cell — a phone
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. rash — a series

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