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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. sharp — clever
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. tube — the underground
  6. press — to push
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. swing — to play on
  9. swing — music
  10. game — a match
  11. press — a publisher
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. content — the amount
  14. tube — a container
  15. swing — in golf
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. mark — a grade
  18. last — finally
  19. game — wild animals
  20. last — final
  21. last — to go on
  22. press — newspapers
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. mark — a trace

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