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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. staff — employees
  4. content — happy
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. spring — the season
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. craft — boats
  11. spring — of water
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. spring — a coil
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. staff — a stick
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. craft — a skill
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. staff — employees
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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