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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. kid — to tease
  3. chest — of your body
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. content — happy
  7. ball — a great time
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. hand — in cards
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. kid — child
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. ball — a dance
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. content — the amount
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a music group

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