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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. content — the amount
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. band — a music group
  7. last — finally
  8. date — the fruit
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bat — the animal
  11. last — final
  12. content — happy
  13. bear — the animal
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. band — a ring
  16. shower — rain
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. last — to go on
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. shower — to wash
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. leaves — to go away

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