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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. spell — letters
  5. tube — the underground
  6. snap — to click
  7. spell — a short time
  8. spell — magic
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. drill — army training
  11. wind — moving air
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. drill — the tool
  14. drill — a practice
  15. wind — moving air
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. tube — a container
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. content — the 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