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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 120 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. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. ball — a dance
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. net — after costs
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. spring — the season
  7. bear — the animal
  8. shower — rain
  9. spring — of water
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bear — the animal
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. net — for catching
  14. spring — a coil
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. content — happy
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. net — in sport
  21. mine — for digging
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. ball — a great time

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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