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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. spring — the season
  5. tear — from crying
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. wax — to grow
  10. spring — a coil
  11. game — a match
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. can — a tin
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. tear — to rip
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. game — wild animals
  19. plane — a tool
  20. tear — from crying
  21. spring — of water
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. can — to be able to
  24. content — videos and posts

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