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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  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. sharp — exactly
  2. content — happy
  3. wind — moving air
  4. degree — an amount
  5. bear — the animal
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wind — moving air
  12. degree — temperature
  13. prune — to trim
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wake — a trail
  18. content — the amount
  19. bat — the animal
  20. sharp — clever
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bear — the animal
  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