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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 116 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. ball — a great time
  3. row — a line
  4. cap — a hat
  5. content — happy
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. track — a song
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. degree — from a university
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. cap — of ice
  15. track — to keep track
  16. shower — to wash
  17. degree — temperature
  18. ball — a dance
  19. shower — rain
  20. track — a path
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cap — a lid
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. degree — an 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