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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. ball — a great time
  3. squash — the sport
  4. pass — a permit
  5. rest — a break
  6. hand — in cards
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. content — the amount
  11. fork — in a road
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. rest — what's left
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. cold — not warm
  17. content — happy
  18. rest — what's left
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. squash — to crush
  23. ball — a dance
  24. fork — to eat with

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