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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. snap — to click
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. chip — to eat
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. bark — to shout
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. content — happy
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. saw — the tool
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. wax — to grow
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a city
  21. chip — for betting
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. saw — the tool

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