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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. content — happy
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cap — a hat
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. game — wild animals
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cap — of ice
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. content — the amount
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cap — a lid
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. wind — moving air
  18. shower — rain
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. lie — to recline
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. game — a match

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